Good morning from equally cold Michigan where my car thermometer managed to get up to 0 by the time I got to work. Early/short day today, since I have to go home mid-morning and relieve my DH as we wait for someone to come and fix the furnace. Yep, on the coldest day of winter so far, the ceramic igniter appears to have died.
So no workout this am for me. Will have to use a little oil-filled raiator to keep one room in the house tolerable--willl use the dog, too! So it's a one-dog night (or day) for us today!
Maura
Maura:Is it the ignitor or the flame sensor? Does the gas flow, and then shut off, and you hear clicking? Or do the flames come on for about 5-6 seconds and then shut off?
If its the sensor (flames come on briefly and shut down), you can try LIGHTLY sanding what looks like a probe that extends into the flames and it should work.
If its the ignitor (and this should only be tried in case of EMERGENCY), you should be able to manually light it...if you have a long handled lighter, you will need to hold the lighter in the path of the gas when it comes on.
You may also have a glow type starter, rather than a spark type starter. If that is the case, you'd want to LIGHTLY sand the glow starter to see if that works.
You will have to remove the upper panel of your furnace to check this...most have two, one for burner access, one for blower access. The blower is usually the lower panel, and has a pressure switch that prevents the blower from running when the panel is off.
Good luck!
Lisa:I'd love to have a wood boiler, but its against code in the municipality...just like most other things I'd like to do! I love boiler based heat, it is VERY even. BTW, what is HWBB?
Mike