Hot Surface Ignitor Headquarters

Welcome to Hot Surface Ignitor Headquarters. This is a great place to start for gas furnace repair problems. Often, the fix is extremely simple and not very expensive if you know what you’re looking for. In many cases, you don’t even need to call a repairman because you can diagnose and repair the problem yourself. For one of the most common furnace problems, the fix is almost as simple as replacing a halogen light bulb! Here’s a common situation experienced by everyone with a gas furnace problem:

My Thermostat Isn’t Working

We often take our gas furnaces for granted until one day, we realize it has malfunctioned and we see the temperature on the thermostat drop. For sure, one of the first indicators that something is wrong with your furnace is when you you’re sitting at home and you start to notice that is is colder than usual. Overall, you feel chilled and even the floor might feel a lot colder too!

That’s when you check your thermostat and bump up the heat. However, after increasing the temperature setting, you don’t hear the click of the thermostat or the furnace starting up like usual. You try this again and again but the furnace just won’t start. That’s when you start thinking this might be a bigger problem. The next logical step is to check the breaker to make sure it isn’t tripped. When you check the breaker, you notice that it is still on. That means electricity is still going to the furnace.

Why Isn’t The Gas Burner Lighting Up?

So if electricity is still flowing to the furnace, then it is time to check to see why the gas burner isn’t lighting up. To give an idea of how a gas furnace works, we can equate the operation roughly to how your gas stove top works. It’s really very basic… You need a spark and then a gas flow to ignite the burners. This simple operation applies to your gas furnace and stove. Both units have an ignitor and that is what we will check next.

Check The Hot Surface Ignitor

In a gas furnace, the gas jets are lit by what is called a hot surface ignitor. It is essentially a filament (like the one found in a light bulb) that heats up red hot and when the gas fumes from the gas jets hit the hot surface ignitor, the gas ignites causing combustion. Typically, there are 2 to 4 gas burners in a gas furnace. These burners, when ignited provides a heat source that is blown through the ducting and out the heat registers inside your home.

When your gas burners don’t light, the first thing you need to check is the hot surface ignitor. It is the cause of the majority of gas furnace problems and can be easily be fixed yourself. Furnace repair companies know this is an easy fix but often charge quite a bit of meney for a 10 minute service call. And often, in the winter, they can charge an emergency service charge if you want them to come out and repair your furnace within 24 hours! This can add up to quite a repair bill!

Replacing A Hot Surface Ignitor Yourself

To replace a hot surface ignitor isn’t hard to do. However, you will need to get inside your furnace. If you have a little handy skills, you can do it easily. But first you need to know how to handle a hot surface ignitor. There are some things you need to know before you even take it out of the box. But the actual repair is basically unscrewing the ignitor from it’s mounting bracket, then unplugging the connector. To reinstall the ignitor, just reverse the process. But just so you’re aware, some ignitors are easier to access than others but not impossible. Some furnaces are rather cramped inside which might require a little bit more time to access the ignitor.

But even so, the repair does not take that long to do. Now that you know how easy this repair job is… would you still want to pay couple of hundred dollars for a service call? The ignitors themselves usually cost less than $50!

Where To Get Hot Surface Ignitors

It is often difficult to buy hot surface ignitors locally because most local companies only sell to licensed contractors. Because of this, the homeowner is required to call a repair company to do the job… unless you have a contractor’s license to make the purchase.

So the best option is ordering online. This is because you can get almost any make and model of hot surface ignitor available.

What If I Need A Hot Surface Ignitor Now?

We understand that if you’re reading this, you probably have a malfunctioning gas furnace and are desperate to get heat restored to your home. You have 2 options with advantages and disadvantages:

Call a furnace repair company for emergency service

• Fast service
• May or may not be able to make it to your home the day you call
• Expensive service call
• Might need to use a temporary space heater until repair is done

Order overnight delivery of a hot surface ignitor

• Overnight delivery. Get it the next day
• Easy to install
• Inexpensive. Usually less than $50
• Might need to use a temporary space heater until repair is done

The repair decision you make depends on whether you can live with a cold house for a day and how much you want to spend on the repair job. In some cases, if you call a repair company, you might still have to wait a day for them to come out depending on how busy they are. If that is the case, you could save a lot of money by ordering a hot surface ignitor online and have it the next day.

Where To Order A Hot Surface Ignitor

Before you order a hot surface ignitor, please be sure you have the right brand and model number. In some cases, there are several manufacturers that produce compatible ignitors for different furnaces. The manufacturer and model number are often found in one of two places on the ignitor itself:

• On the ceramic base
• On a tab on one of the wires

Read this post on how to identify a hot surface ignitor. Once you know the make and model of ignitor you need, look in our sidebar at the right for the various ignitors. By clicking on them, you can see if that particular ignitor fits your gas furnace.

How To Stay Prepared For Future Problems

At this time, if you’re ordering a new hot surface ignitor, it would be wise to order a 2nd one at the same time. Keep it near your gas furnace as a spare so when you lose heat again. Buying two ignitors still costs less than a single service call to your home!