Amana Furnace Assistance

dataflux

Good Morning. First time on the forums - I've searched through the archive but can't find the solution to my problem and with it being about -30C outside, I don't want to delay!

Bought my first house in September and am now having trouble with the furnace. It is a Amana Hi Efficiency 80 Natural Gas Furnace, Model Gu1070C30B (some 0s may be O and the 1 an I) with a 50E47-170 controller.

I found the house was cold yesterday after returning from work and I noticed that the controller (I apologize if some of my terminology is off) was blinking red and there was no flame but the fan was blowing.

I adjusted the thermostat higher and after some time, the furnace was operating normally. But then, later that night, the same problem occurred with a blinking red light, no heat, but later 'resetting' and producing heat. It seems as though the furnace will occasionally light, but not every time. When it does not light, it appears to go through its full processing including the electric igniter glowing, but fails to produce a flame.

The controller will flash red, but I haven't been able to count the number of flashes as I haven't been there when it started and it doesn't continue to flash after a pause. I also dont have the original instructions to identify a code; but there appears to be at least 8 flashes, but I could be mistaken.

Potentially coincidentally, I have also found lately the natural gas stove will fail to light, sometimes requiring a BBQ lighter to start. May this just be two failures at once, or connected issues?

Both appliances are in good shape and appear well maintained by the previous owner.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks

JohnH1

Gas meter could be sticking or you may have low gas pressure. This is only assuming both items are related. It is the only thing I can think of that could cause both. The flash codes are usually listed eather on the back of the blower door or on the controll itself.

dataflux

Thanks for the help. The gas company is going to visit today to see if its a flow problem and I'll check on the flash codes once I am home.

If its not a gas flow problem, how much should I expect to pay to have a tech come out and service the furnace?

dataflux

An update - still havent seen the gas company (snow storm today) but after sitting watching the furnace for awhile I can provide some more information.

It seems now that the thermostat will call for heat and the furnace will go through its normal cycle and ignite, but only stay lit for about 4 - 10 seconds (it varies). Once extinguished, the fan will remain on, and then about thirty seconds later the electric igniter will glow again and the furnace will light but this time stay on for its normal cycle.

I think what was happening last night was that it was failing on its second (and third?) attempt and then producing the error code on the control unit.

Any suggestions? Also, I cannot see the error codes for the board inside the furnace. I've looked on the board/control unit itself, and on the inside of the furnace. Is there anywhere else where the codes would be? The model is at the top of this thread. I looked at the trouble-shooting on their website but it doesn't have the flash codes.

Any help would be great! Thanks.

JohnH1

Sounds like you need to clean the flame rod. You can use steel wool to do this.