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Furnace Not Igniting - How to Check and Replace Ignitor
WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en
00:00:07.120 [Music] 00:00:12.92000:00:12.930 [Applause] 00:00:20.32000:00:20.33000:00:26.64000:00:26.650 hey guys J here with word of advice TV 00:00:29.47000:00:29.480 and today I want to go over to furnace 00:00:31.18000:00:31.190 ignitor or more specifically the furnace 00:00:33.79000:00:33.800 ignitor not working on furnaces on gas 00:00:36.31000:00:36.320 furnaces there's pretty much just four 00:00:39.07000:00:39.080 types of igniters you've got the 00:00:40.96000:00:40.970 standing pilot only very old furnaces 00:00:43.27000:00:43.280 have those yet that's where you have to 00:00:45.46000:00:45.470 manually light the flame and that little 00:00:47.47000:00:47.480 flame stays on all the time and if you 00:00:49.69000:00:49.700 think you have that but you're not sure 00:00:51.22000:00:51.230 an easy way to check is to just look in 00:00:53.47000:00:53.480 your gas valve and usually they'll have 00:00:55.68900:00:55.699 a knob on top of it that'll have an on 00:00:57.64000:00:57.650 position an off position and a pilot 00:01:00.16000:01:00.170 mine is not a standing pilot so you 00:01:02.50000:01:02.510 won't see it in mine on mine I just have 00:01:04.60000:01:04.610 a little switch that says off and on but 00:01:07.54000:01:07.550 with a standing pilot furnace you would 00:01:09.43000:01:09.440 have three positions on/off and pilot so 00:01:12.46000:01:12.470 we have a standing pilot and the next 00:01:14.08000:01:14.090 one is a direct spark ignition and those 00:01:16.53900:01:16.549 are generally pretty loud if that's what 00:01:18.58000:01:18.590 you have you'll probably hear it when 00:01:20.38000:01:20.390 the furnace is trying to start it'll 00:01:21.61000:01:21.620 make a pretty loud racket so with a 00:01:23.68000:01:23.690 direct spark igniter the gas valve opens 00:01:26.23000:01:26.240 Suns gas through the manifold to all the 00:01:28.21000:01:28.220 burners and that sparked ignites that 00:01:30.34000:01:30.350 gas right away the third kind is the 00:01:32.77000:01:32.780 intermittent pilot so it's kind of like 00:01:34.77900:01:34.789 a standing pilot but it's intermittent 00:01:36.55000:01:36.560 so it only turns on when there's a call 00:01:38.35000:01:38.360 for heat when the thermostats calling 00:01:39.94000:01:39.950 for heating so you have a little pilot 00:01:41.80000:01:41.810 hood and usually the gas valve will have 00:01:44.17000:01:44.180 a little silver tube coming out of it 00:01:46.38900:01:46.399 that'll be the pilot tube so whenever 00:01:48.81900:01:48.829 there's a call for heat the pilot valve 00:01:50.95000:01:50.960 opens on the gas valve and let's a 00:01:53.02000:01:53.030 little bit of gas through and then a 00:01:54.81900:01:54.829 spark will ignite that pilot flame and 00:01:57.76000:01:57.770 once a flame sensor or a thermocouple 00:01:59.88900:01:59.899 senses that the flame is there then the 00:02:02.16900:02:02.179 main gas valve opens up and lets the 00:02:03.94000:02:03.950 flame through and ignition source number 00:02:06.39900:02:06.409 four is the most common for modern-day 00:02:08.65000:02:08.660 furnaces is a hot surface igniter and 00:02:10.87000:02:10.880 that's what my furnace hands as well 00:02:12.31000:02:12.320 that's where they use a little glow 00:02:14.32000:02:14.330 stick that glows up to about a thousand 00:02:16.78000:02:16.790 two hundred degrees and that's what 00:02:18.34000:02:18.350 ignites the gas so I want to go over my 00:02:20.35000:02:20.360 furnace quick how to check the hot 00:02:22.57000:02:22.580 surface igniter and how to replace one 00:02:24.97000:02:24.980 so mine you can see that little shiny 00:02:26.98000:02:26.990 stuff right there 00:02:27.97000:02:27.980 that's my igniter right there it'll 00:02:30.28000:02:30.290 generally be behind your burners if you 00:02:32.92000:02:32.930 see where your flame sensor is it'll be 00:02:34.75000:02:34.760 across the flame sensor on the other 00:02:36.31000:02:36.320 side so that's my igniter right there 00:02:39.21000:02:39.220 so before we get into how to check it 00:02:41.71000:02:41.720 let's just see what it would look like 00:02:43.63000:02:43.640 if your igniter is burnt out or for some 00:02:45.85000:02:45.860 reason it's not getting power so I turn 00:02:48.82000:02:48.830 my power back on to my furnace so the 00:02:51.40000:02:51.410 very first thing that should come on is 00:02:53.29000:02:53.300 the inducer motor if there's a call for 00:02:55.12000:02:55.130 heat and there it goes 00:02:57.13000:02:57.140 my thermostats calling for you so that 00:02:59.26000:02:59.270 turns on and in about 5-10 seconds 00:03:05.05000:03:05.060 generally on my furnace diagnostic an 00:03:09.73000:03:09.740 see mine is not glowing 00:03:10.96000:03:10.970 then you're gonna hear the gas valve 00:03:12.67000:03:12.680 open up you should hear a click there it 00:03:16.39000:03:16.400 goes and I don't know if you can hear 00:03:18.76000:03:18.770 that on the camera but I can actually 00:03:20.26000:03:20.270 hear the gas hissing out and nothing 00:03:24.04000:03:24.050 happens that's what a typical burnt-out 00:03:26.59000:03:26.600 igniter scenario would look like your 00:03:28.63000:03:28.640 gas valve will open up you'll hear some 00:03:30.34000:03:30.350 gas coming out but the igniter was never 00:03:32.62000:03:32.630 glowing now my igniter is not actually 00:03:34.63000:03:34.640 bad I just wanted to simulate a bad 00:03:36.61000:03:36.620 igniter I just left mine unplugged 00:03:38.56000:03:38.570 slightly so you could see what it looks 00:03:40.39000:03:40.400 like but if I plug it back in and reset 00:03:44.28900:03:44.299 my furnace power we will now be able to 00:03:50.62000:03:50.630 see what a normal sequence of operation 00:03:53.41000:03:53.420 would look like so once again the 00:03:57.00900:03:57.019 inducer motor comes on this time I have 00:04:00.37000:04:00.380 it plugged in all the way 00:04:03.91000:04:03.920 and there goes my hot surface igniter as 00:04:06.19000:04:06.200 you can see it's blowing bright orange 00:04:08.08000:04:08.090 like that 00:04:14.34000:04:14.350 gas valve opens up and third gold my 00:04:17.89000:04:17.900 burners 00:04:21.19900:04:21.209 now the best way to check an igniter is 00:04:23.48000:04:23.490 of course with the meter if you don't 00:04:25.31000:04:25.320 have a meter then you can just kind of 00:04:27.26000:04:27.270 play it by ear so like I was saying 00:04:28.85000:04:28.860 earlier if you can hear your gas valve 00:04:30.40900:04:30.419 opening but the igniter was never 00:04:32.27000:04:32.280 glowing then there's a pretty good 00:04:33.80000:04:33.810 chance that your igniter is the one 00:04:35.12000:04:35.130 that's actually bad and when you pull it 00:04:37.10000:04:37.110 out I'll pull it out in a little bit 00:04:38.45000:04:38.460 here a lot of times you'll actually see 00:04:40.37000:04:40.380 a crack in the middle of the igniter if 00:04:42.17000:04:42.180 you can visually see a crack then for 00:04:43.82000:04:43.830 sure it's bad there's two ways how you 00:04:45.49900:04:45.509 can check an igniter with a multimeter 00:04:47.30000:04:47.310 you can check voltage or you can check 00:04:49.61000:04:49.620 resistance my preferred method is 00:04:51.98000:04:51.990 voltage I like to just check and see if 00:04:57.37000:04:57.380 get my meter to stick on there I like to 00:05:00.20000:05:00.210 just check and see if the igniter is 00:05:02.39000:05:02.400 getting voltage so long story short if 00:05:05.27000:05:05.280 it's getting voltage but it's not 00:05:07.07000:05:07.080 igniting 00:05:07.70000:05:07.710 that means the igniter is bad if it's 00:05:10.07000:05:10.080 not getting voltage that means something 00:05:12.23000:05:12.240 else is wrong or maybe the board is bad 00:05:14.33000:05:14.340 and it's not sending power to it so how 00:05:16.33900:05:16.349 I check voltage on these things 00:05:17.74900:05:17.759 I usually unplug it I'll leave the 00:05:20.68900:05:20.699 igniter unplugged and then I just put my 00:05:23.21000:05:23.220 meter leads inside the plug here from 00:05:26.06000:05:26.070 this side and you want to be really 00:05:27.80000:05:27.810 careful how you Jam your meter leads in 00:05:29.45000:05:29.460 here actually that's just the thing you 00:05:31.15900:05:31.169 don't want Jam them in there be gentle 00:05:33.29000:05:33.300 as you're putting them in or even better 00:05:35.12000:05:35.130 if your meter leads fit you can try to 00:05:37.04000:05:37.050 backstab it from the back that way 00:05:39.14000:05:39.150 you're not damaging the connectors in 00:05:40.58000:05:40.590 here my leads are having a hard time 00:05:42.46900:05:42.479 getting in there so I'll go from the 00:05:44.33000:05:44.340 front but just be careful so you don't 00:05:46.73000:05:46.740 spread out those connectors too much 00:05:48.71000:05:48.720 then you're gonna have a bad connection 00:05:50.45000:05:50.460 and that could cause further problems 00:05:51.79000:05:51.800 but anyways I'll put one lead here and 00:05:54.29000:05:54.300 one lead here and check for voltage so 00:05:56.77900:05:56.789 let's turn our power back on the inducer 00:05:59.83900:05:59.849 motor will come on and the next thing 00:06:01.37000:06:01.380 that should start is the igniter which 00:06:03.86000:06:03.870 means I should have 120 volts going to 00:06:08.12000:06:08.130 my igniter and if you look at my meter 00:06:10.04000:06:10.050 as you can see there's a hundred and 00:06:12.92000:06:12.930 twenty three volts right there 00:06:15.46900:06:15.479 so my igniter should be glowing so if 00:06:18.67900:06:18.689 you verified that your igniter is 00:06:20.17900:06:20.189 getting 120 volts yet it's not calling 00:06:22.79000:06:22.800 that means the igniter is bad another 00:06:25.04000:06:25.050 way you can check it is by checking 00:06:26.57000:06:26.580 resistance on it so if you set your 00:06:29.05900:06:29.069 meter to the home setting or at a 00:06:31.12900:06:31.139 horseshoe symbol the manufacturers 00:06:35.11900:06:35.129 generally recommend 40 to 90 ohms is 00:06:38.02900:06:38.039 what the regular reading should be on an 00:06:40.12900:06:40.139 igniter like this some manufacturers say 00:06:42.95000:06:42.960 as long as it's under 150 ohms that's 00:06:44.98900:06:44.999 good but honestly I've seen igniters at 00:06:47.02900:06:47.039 300 ohms that have been working good for 00:06:48.82900:06:48.839 a long time so I'm not sure how accurate 00:06:51.26000:06:51.270 that is that's why I generally just 00:06:53.17900:06:53.189 check the voltage because with the hot 00:06:54.82900:06:54.839 surface igniter really it either works 00:06:57.01900:06:57.029 or it doesn't 00:06:57.76900:06:57.779 but if your ohms are very high like over 00:07:00.82900:07:00.839 150 in the 200 range then perhaps you 00:07:03.89000:07:03.900 want to get a spare igniter and just 00:07:05.51000:07:05.520 have it by your furnace just in case but 00:07:07.57900:07:07.589 anyways unplug the igniter again so to 00:07:11.68900:07:11.699 check the ohms ond igniter I usually 00:07:14.29900:07:14.309 like the backstabbing approach for the 00:07:16.04000:07:16.050 plug that actually goes to the igniter 00:07:17.38900:07:17.399 because the wires are usually thinner so 00:07:19.01000:07:19.020 you can fit them in and it's a snuggler 00:07:20.54000:07:20.550 fit so you stick one lead into one side 00:07:23.54000:07:23.550 and other lead into the other side and 00:07:28.04000:07:28.050 let's see what our meter has to say so 00:07:31.27900:07:31.289 my igniter is coming out and about its 00:07:34.61000:07:34.620 kind of jump around a little bit but 71 00:07:36.67900:07:36.689 ohms 00:07:37.30900:07:37.319 let's say and for the range 40 to 90 00:07:40.30900:07:40.319 that's perfect Simon T ohms but if 00:07:42.80000:07:42.810 you're seeing like 250 that means that 00:07:44.80900:07:44.819 your igniter is starting to fail and 00:07:46.30900:07:46.319 perhaps I should order a new one and 00:07:47.83900:07:47.849 just have a spare in case but like I 00:07:49.93900:07:49.949 said previously 250 doesn't mean it'll 00:07:52.57900:07:52.589 fail anytime soon it could last a couple 00:07:54.58900:07:54.599 more years and just one more thing you 00:07:57.01900:07:57.029 should be aware of if the igniter was 00:07:58.99900:07:59.009 hot or if your furnace was just working 00:08:00.80000:08:00.810 the resistance readings will be 00:08:02.57000:08:02.580 different so when you check these things 00:08:04.69900:08:04.709 they should be at a room temperature for 00:08:07.30900:08:07.319 an accurate ohm reading and now for how 00:08:09.58900:08:09.599 to replace them it's usually pretty 00:08:12.13900:08:12.149 simple 00:08:12.70900:08:12.719 on most furnaces replacing them is 00:08:14.51000:08:14.520 pretty easy but there are some models of 00:08:16.76000:08:16.770 furnaces that make it pretty difficult 00:08:18.70900:08:18.719 to access so if you have like a 00:08:20.86900:08:20.879 high-efficiency furnace where your 00:08:22.76000:08:22.770 burners are up on top sometimes the 00:08:24.64900:08:24.659 igniter will be tucked in in the back 00:08:26.95900:08:26.969 and it can be a little hard to get to 00:08:29.14900:08:29.159 so if you have some gadgets like this 00:08:31.15900:08:31.169 you know the angled bit holder or the 00:08:34.51900:08:34.529 flexible bit holder that'll make your 00:08:36.82900:08:36.839 life a lot easier otherwise you're gonna 00:08:39.19900:08:39.209 have to just try to struggle through it 00:08:40.75900:08:40.769 with a nut driver or a wrench and it'll 00:08:43.33900:08:43.349 probably take you a long time 00:08:44.82900:08:44.839 so some furnaces if you don't get lucky 00:08:47.50900:08:47.519 are pretty hard to access the igniter on 00:08:49.37000:08:49.380 but in my case it's pretty easy all I 00:08:53.26900:08:53.279 have to do in mine is take out two 00:08:56.93000:08:56.940 quarter inch screws that are on the 00:08:58.99900:08:59.009 bottom right there and that'll drop down 00:09:02.17900:09:02.189 my igniter and when you have your second 00:09:11.72000:09:11.730 screw almost completely out I would 00:09:14.68900:09:14.699 reach in there and grab the igniter 00:09:16.18900:09:16.199 bracket so it doesn't drop down when you 00:09:18.65000:09:18.660 take that screw out all the way because 00:09:21.07900:09:21.089 these silicon carbide igniters are very 00:09:23.32900:09:23.339 fragile 00:09:24.37000:09:24.380 if this thing drops there's a good 00:09:27.82900:09:27.839 chance it'll shatter okay so here's what 00:09:39.13900:09:39.149 my igniter looks like so here's the 00:09:41.90000:09:41.910 igniter itself and I was just mounted to 00:09:44.26900:09:44.279 a bracket right here with one screw to 00:09:47.05900:09:47.069 replace it all you would need to do is 00:09:48.80000:09:48.810 just simply loosen up this screw right 00:09:51.35000:09:51.360 here you don't even have to take the 00:09:55.73000:09:55.740 screw all the way you just loosen it and 00:09:59.09000:09:59.100 you can just pop that igniter right out 00:10:04.03000:10:04.040 and then you put the new one right back 00:10:06.25900:10:06.269 in the same way you took the hold one 00:10:08.15000:10:08.160 out tighten it down and you're good to 00:10:11.74900:10:11.759 go 00:10:12.01900:10:12.029 and remember how I said you can 00:10:13.42900:10:13.439 sometimes visually see if they're burnt 00:10:15.11000:10:15.120 out most of the time there will be a 00:10:17.21000:10:17.220 little crack on the bottom side of the 00:10:19.22000:10:19.230 igniter where you'll actually see a line 00:10:21.98000:10:21.990 going right through it like a white 00:10:23.48000:10:23.490 burnt outline if you see that on your 00:10:25.49000:10:25.500 igniter then your igniter is for sure 00:10:27.25900:10:27.269 bad and it needs to be replaced and just 00:10:29.60000:10:29.610 so you know sometimes the new igniter 00:10:31.69900:10:31.709 will come with a different plug and 00:10:33.74000:10:33.750 that's okay don't worry about that all 00:10:36.13900:10:36.149 you got to do is just snip the plug off 00:10:39.13900:10:39.149 of the hold igniter off and why are not 00:10:41.84000:10:41.850 that onto the 00:10:42.90000:10:42.910 ignitor and then just reuse that same 00:10:44.97000:10:44.980 plug to plug back into your furnace and 00:10:47.21000:10:47.220 like I said previously keep in mind that 00:10:49.77000:10:49.780 they're very fragile and you also don't 00:10:52.26000:10:52.270 want to touch the actual igniter part 00:10:54.24000:10:54.250 with your fingers because it'll leave 00:10:56.13000:10:56.140 some oil residue on it and that'll 00:10:58.35000:10:58.360 create a hot spot and that spot will 00:11:00.57000:11:00.580 burn out a lot faster than the rest of 00:11:02.34000:11:02.350 the igniter so don't touch it with your 00:11:04.14000:11:04.150 hands just touch the ceramic part or the 00:11:06.27000:11:06.280 bracket when you're putting it back in 00:11:08.07000:11:08.080 and try not to hit the igniter in 00:11:09.93000:11:09.940 anything as you're putting it back in 00:11:11.67000:11:11.680 because they shatter pretty easily and 00:11:13.74000:11:13.750 that's about it as you saw if there's 00:11:15.96000:11:15.970 really not much to it just make sure you 00:11:17.61000:11:17.620 get the right igniter one more tip I 00:11:19.56000:11:19.570 want to give sometimes this as you can 00:11:22.20000:11:22.210 see there's a ridge on this igniter 00:11:23.49000:11:23.500 right here sometimes this Ridge will not 00:11:26.46000:11:26.470 quite line up the new igniter I mean 00:11:28.65000:11:28.660 it'll be a little longer in that case 00:11:30.87000:11:30.880 you can just take some pliers and break 00:11:32.67000:11:32.680 that little ceramic part off to make it 00:11:34.98000:11:34.990 shorter so it fits into the bracket this 00:11:37.11000:11:37.120 ceramic part is pretty brittle so it's 00:11:38.85000:11:38.860 pretty easy to bite into it with your 00:11:40.47000:11:40.480 pliers and hopefully you were paying 00:11:42.84000:11:42.850 attention on how you were taking your 00:11:44.46000:11:44.470 old one out and you will remember how to 00:11:49.05000:11:49.060 put it in in a similar fashion in my 00:11:52.02000:11:52.030 case is just to screw holes and there's 00:11:54.78000:11:54.790 nothing hard but sometimes the bracket 00:11:57.33000:11:57.340 needs to slide into a slot in that case 00:12:00.27000:12:00.280 it'll be helpful if you either took a 00:12:02.46000:12:02.470 picture or remembered how you took the 00:12:04.05000:12:04.060 old one out so you can put the new one 00:12:05.46000:12:05.470 back in the same way because if the 00:12:07.71000:12:07.720 igniter is not positioned right then 00:12:10.35000:12:10.360 there's a good chance it will not ignite 00:12:12.03000:12:12.040 the gas so I put my two screws in and my 00:12:17.22000:12:17.230 igniter is ready to go well guys and 00:12:25.05000:12:25.060 that is all I had for you today just 00:12:26.40000:12:26.410 another thing I want to point out is 00:12:28.11000:12:28.120 that there's a lot of different kinds of 00:12:30.51000:12:30.520 hot surface igniter 's the one that I 00:12:32.40000:12:32.410 have the 409 hot surface igniter is very 00:12:35.34000:12:35.350 common but there are many different 00:12:36.87000:12:36.880 kinds so before you go ahead and order 00:12:38.94000:12:38.950 one make sure you take yours out take a 00:12:40.86000:12:40.870 look at it and make sure that the one 00:12:42.66000:12:42.670 you're ordering is the same one that you 00:12:44.04000:12:44.050 have I hope you found this video helpful 00:12:45.69000:12:45.700 thank you so much for watching don't 00:12:47.34000:12:47.350 forget to mash that like button on the 00:12:48.75000:12:48.760 way out and we'll see you next time and 00:12:50.97000:12:50.980 for those of you that watch this video 00:12:52.50000:12:52.510 all the way till the end let me tell you 00:12:54.24000:12:54.250 what I told the customer recently so I 00:12:55.95000:12:55.960 not gonna door 00:12:56.73000:12:56.740 opens up and he tells me you're late and 00:12:58.56000:12:58.570 I say yes I know I apologize I was at 00:13:01.68000:13:01.690 home painting my nails I didn't notice 00:13:03.32900:13:03.339 the time and now I'm late and the 00:13:05.28000:13:05.290 customers like at that point I'm like 00:13:08.49000:13:08.500 yeah see 00:13:20.32000:13:20.330
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