How To Tell If Your Furnace Ignitor Is Bad

If you’re sitting in a freezing cold house, but you swear your heat is turned on, there’s likely an issue with your furnace. Even in Michigan, your house should warm up when your heater is running. One common issue that pops up with furnaces is a broken ignitor. If you suspect there is an issue with your heating unit, here are a few ways that you can tell if your furnace ignitor is bad. 

Your furnace isn’t running: This bit of advice is pretty simple; if your furnace isn’t running, it may be because it won’t ignite. Typically, if you try running your furnace and it won’t even start, that’s a strong signal your furnace ignitor is bad. Unfortunately, a bad ignitor may not be the only reason your furnace isn’t running. Be sure to check your circuit breaker to see if your power is on. Speaking of circuit breakers…

Your circuit breaker is repeatedly tripped: If the circuit breaker is the issue, pay attention to this. If your circuit breaker trips frequently, it’s often because of the furnace ignitor. However, if this is the case, you may have an electrical issue that can be very dangerous. If your furnace ignitor is tripping the circuit breaker, it may send too much voltage, causing it to trip. This can be an extremely dangerous situation that should be evaluated by an electrician as soon as possible

Your furnace randomly stops: Furnaces are equipped with a fail-safe to stop the ignitor from shorting out, sparking, and lighting debris from your filter on fire. So, one thing to check is your furnace filter. Routine maintenance is one key to a smooth-running furnace! But, if changing out your filter doesn’t work, calling an HVAC technician is recommended.

How to check if your furnace ignitor is bad

You may tell if the furnace ignitor is the problem just by checking to see what happens when you turn your thermostat up. When your furnace works correctly, turning up the thermostat will cause the furnace to kick on.

Turn the thermostat up, and then check to see if the furnace ignitor clicks. Ordinarily, you will hear it click, and the furnace will start running. If you hear the furnace ignitor clicking but the furnace doesn’t start up, this could be an indicator that your furnace ignitor is bad.

If you have any of these issues or suspect that you have a faulty furnace ignitor, give Sunrise Heating and Plumbing today at (616) 293-9326. If the issue is your furnace ignitor, this is typically an easy fix. Our pros can help you with your questions or schedule a service call.