If you’re concerned about gas leaks or carbon monoxide in your home, Georgia Air is available to help. Call us at 912-513-3361 to schedule professional furnace repair in Pooler, Georgia, or the surrounding areas.
During the winter, your furnace is one of the most important parts of your home for your HVAC system. What causes furnace ignitor failure? Is there a way to solve or prevent these problems without calling a professional?
Allow Georgia Air, an expert in all things heating repair in Pooler, GA, to explain furnace ignitor failure, why your heater may fail, and what you can do to prevent it.
What Is a Furnace Ignitor?
The furnace ignitor on your heating system is the component that uses gas to produce heat. Without it, your furnace would be similar to a fan for your vents, blowing only cold air throughout your home.
If your furnace is older, you may have a pilot light instead. Unfortunately, if either one of these mechanisms breaks, your furnace can’t function and may need the attention of an HVAC expert.
Depending on what kind of furnace you have, your furnace ignitor may be different from others. An electric ignitor, for example, conducts electricity through a small wire to create heat.
If you have an electric ignitor rather than a gas ignitor, there are a completely different set of problems you can have between one and the other. While a gas ignitor may become defective due to dust, an electric one may hold out for longer before you need to clean all internal components.
How To Troubleshoot Your Furnace Ignitor
When your furnace stops working, troubleshooting each component can help you determine which part is not functioning properly. With this information, you can bring a more concise summary to your HVAC professional when it comes time to fix it. If your furnace isn’t working, consider some of these other common furnace issues before deciding that the furnace ignitor is the problem:
Check Your Circuit Breaker
If your furnace isn’t turning on, you may need to make sure your circuit breaker isn’t the one causing trouble. A tripped breaker can cause a faulty heat system just as well as your furnace ignitor. If your circuit breaker is the issue, flipping it should resolve the issue with your furnace so that you have heat again.
Check Your Air Filters and Vents
Having a dirty air filter or clogged vent can harm your furnace. If your furnace has substantially clogged air filters, it could prevent air from getting into the furnace, making it non-functional.
When maintaining your furnace, try to clean the air filters and inspect your vents as often as you can. Not only can cluttered airways make your furnace stop working, but if left unchecked, they can cause your furnace to work harder than it needs to keep the hot air flowing. In extreme cases, you may even notice rotten egg smells coming from your furnace every time it turns on.
Check Your Thermostat
Think of your thermostat as the “brain” of your furnace and air conditioning unit. Without a thermostat, your furnace won’t know what to do. If you have a broken thermostat, this may cause the furnace to seem like it’s broken.
Check your thermostat’s settings to determine if your furnace is on or off and if the thermostat is communicating with the furnace properly. If not, you may need to call an HVAC company to help resolve the issue.
What Causes Furnace Ignitor Failure?
When winter comes with its cold weather, it’s better to have a plan for when your furnace needs some fixing. No matter why your furnace may need a check-up, preventative maintenance is always good for your HVAC system. When a professional checks your system, they may look into parts that commonly fail, such as your blower, the heat exchanger, the combustion chamber, and others.
Calling an HVAC repair professional is how you can get your system back and running well. If you’re experiencing furnace ignitor failure, it may be due to any of the following common problems:
Defective Flame Sensor
A flame sensor is responsible for regulating your furnace, acting almost like a thermometer. If your flame sensor is defective, your furnace may have heightened internal temperatures due to internal overheating.
When wondering about what causes furnace ignitor failure, consider the internal mechanisms of your machine. If your furnace is overheating, it can bring extra wear and tear to the other parts, causing them to fail prematurely and create issues over time.
Strong External Drafts
If you have a strong draft from the outside of your home reaching into your furnace’s area, odds are this wind could be causing problems for your furnace’s functionality.
For example, if your furnace has a pilot light, your furnace ignitor may not be the issue but the strong wind that continuously puts the pilot light out. A draft into your basement or attic can interfere with the blower motor of your furnace as well.
If there is a strong draft, consider locating its source so that you can prevent it from causing more internal problems with your furnace. Cross ventilation from other rooms in your home may be causing a strong draft, so experiment with doors and other openings to find the cause of your draft issue.
Electrical Surges
If your home has had electrical surges, whether they be due to a storm or other external factors, these electrical surges may be causing problems for your furnace. Surges can create mechanical problems for your heater, causing different components to stop working. This includes the furnace ignitor as well as other mechanisms on the inside, like your blower motor and heat exchanger.
Natural Use
If you’re using your furnace often, there’s a good chance natural usage will cause it to break eventually. Unfortunately, everything wears down with enough time, especially things like your furnace ignitor or pilot light.
A furnace, under normal usage patterns, will likely have a lifespan that lasts anywhere from 15 to 20 years. If you run your furnace for longer than average or shorter, the exact lifespan will differ.
External Damage
If you accidentally damage your furnace in any way, it may be time to call an HVAC technician for a replacement. There are plenty of delicate components inside your furnace, meaning any damage, even minor, may disparage your entire system. If there are any components warped due to heat or chipped due to an accidental impact, it may be best to check your entire system to see what you need to replace.
How You Can Prevent Furnace Ignitor Failure
While understanding what causes furnace ignitor failure is important, you should also know how to prevent it. Here are a few things you can do to keep your furnace’s ignitor and other components functional.
Perform Preventative Maintenance
Checking in on your heater often is a good way to ensure it works when the coldest seasons come around. During a routine maintenance inspection, a heating professional will make sure that all parts of your furnace are working properly and make any adjustments it needs to be fully operational. They can also fix minor issues right away before they escalate into something worse.
Use Your Furnace Wisely
When using your furnace during the winter, it may be tempting to use it constantly. While keeping the hot weather at bay is great for seasonal comfort, having your heater running almost all hours of the day is detrimental to the system.
Sensitive components can become severely damaged by the furnace running for too long; if your heat exchanger operates all day, it could reach levels of heat capable of melting wires. When using your heater, give it a break from time to time, using it only to warm the house temporarily or by running it on a set schedule from your thermostat.
Acquire Spare Parts
When performing preventative maintenance, you may notice some components that need replacing. Having spare parts on hand can save you both time and trouble when buying new equipment. If you aren’t keen to replace said parts yourself, having the parts in any way can help expedite the repairs for your HVAC technician so that you can get your furnace back faster.
Call Georgia Air for Your Furnace and HVAC Needs in Pooler, GA
Signs of a bad furnace ignitor or ventilation system can cause major disruptions in your home. If you need an HVAC technician service to help get your furnace in order, call our team at Georgia Air. We know how to fix all kinds of furnace issues and can get your furnace back in working order quickly and efficiently. Our competitive prices can help make your furnace needs hassle-free to fix.
If you have HVAC issues, why not come to a professional team in Georgia that you can trust? Call Georgia Air at 912-513-3361 to learn more about what causes furnace ignitor failure and how our team can get your furnace back up and running just in time for winter in Pooler, Georgia.