HVAC Folks? Gas Furnace Won't Turn On

[qslim]

Woke up this morning to a 55 degree house. The fan will run if I turn it on from the thermostat manually, but when I set it to "heat" I get nothing. No fan & the furnace won't fire. I messed with the temp, I can hear the thermostat click when I set it just over ambient range. Any starting points? I never had to troubleshoot a gas furnace before, don't even know what the inside looks like.

 

[Gunnersmate]

Check The Pilot or call a plumber

 

[gaabbee]

pics

 

[Thunderhead]

Chasing down HVAC problems just take time and can be figured out with a multimeter.
Fuses, pilot light, Brand of furnace, points of contact. Turn your unit off and take off the cover of the furnace to see what your working with

 

[Zorba]

Is it new enough to have an induction fan? If that isn't spinning, nothing else will go. Had a furnace with an induction fan that would stick every once in a while - a good whack on its housing and it would spin up!

 

[B252]

If it's pretty old, check the pilot.
If newer could be a cracked hot surface ignitor.
Possible gas valve issue
Be sure the door is on tight
Or what Zorba had said.

 

[TJ4Jim]

Do your other gas appliances operate properly, is it a standing pilot or electronic ignition ? On older residential gas appliances it's usually the Thermopile part of the pilot lite assembly that finally burns out.

​

 

[Zorba]

This reminds me of a VERY bad joke:

Guy jumps out of an airplane, but can't get his parachute to deploy. He struggles with it, messes with it, and no joy. Suddenly, he meets another guy coming up! He yells at the guy, "Hey, do you know anything about parachutes?" "No," comes the reply, "do you know anything about gas stoves?".

Courtesy laugh on three....

 

[qslim]

If it's pretty old, check the pilot.
If newer could be a cracked hot surface ignitor.
Possible gas valve issue
Be sure the door is on tight
Or what Zorba had said.

Cracked ignition. I’m assuming anyway, the meter reads OL. Off to the HVAC supply store.

 

[qslim]

We have ignition folks.

Man do I love mom & pop shops. There's a little appliance repair store down the street from my house thats been around before Lowes & Home Depot moved into town. Peg board displays with random parts hanging from them, a pile of rock salt bags in the corner, a small collection of tools like screw drivers, tin snips, soldering irons, and the mandatory rack of candy by the register placed down low to get the attention of kids.

Every time I go there the guy that runs the place (standing in front of a portrait of his father posing in front of the shop in the late 50s) has an immediate answer to whatever random problem I'm having and knows exactly what I need.I called to see if they stocked this broken igniter thingy, he said they had one on hand & described it over the phone. I called them just a few minutes before closing but he said he would hang around so I could get it tonight & have a warm house. I went ahead & bought a case of filters while I was there. Love those stores.