Heater problem

[Bjohnson]

my central heat will not turn on sometimes for no apparent reason. It will work fine but at random times it won’t kick on. If I shut off the system at the thermostat for 10 min or so it will kick back on and work like its supposed to for at least awhile anyway...? Last time it did this was a week ago. What’s the problem? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Silentrunning]

Welcome to the forum. First, it would help to know the type of thermostat you have. Is it the Mercury switch on a bi-metal sensing strip or a newer solid state type? This is information that is necessary to help you. A picture would be good too.

 

[Bjohnson]

I cleaned the flame sensor and it has seemed to work

 

[Silentrunning]

I cleaned the flame sensor and it has seemed to work

Could you post a brief how to for future use?

 

[Bjohnson]

Went searching on YouTube and found a video about heater problems. He mentioned that if the flame sensor is dirty it will not pick up the flame and shut ieverything off. I then found another video discussing flame sensors and went with it. For my system the flame sensor was on the left side and only had a single wire to it. It is held into place with one screw. I pulled it out and cleaned it with a kitchen pad and a dollar bill. The video said sandpaper would scratch it which in the long term would cause more buildup. It was a tight fit to put it back in (not much room to manuever) but my heater has worked perfectly ever since.
I'm the least "handy" person around but with a little knowledge it was an easy fix.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Went searching on YouTube and found a video about heater problems. He mentioned that if the flame sensor is dirty it will not pick up the flame and shut ieverything off. I then found another video discussing flame sensors and went with it. For my system the flame sensor was on the left side and only had a single wire to it. It is held into place with one screw. I pulled it out and cleaned it with a kitchen pad and a dollar bill. The video said sandpaper would scratch it which in the long term would cause more buildup. It was a tight fit to put it back in (not much room to manuever) but my heater has worked perfectly ever since.
I'm the least "handy" person around but with a little knowledge it was an easy fix.

It sounds like all it took was money!