Ruud furnace-no heat

nomdeplume

Hello all, Have a problem with my Ruud silhoutte II plus 2. The blower comes on right away and does not even try to ignite. Status light blinks three times -says the limit switch is open. Ok, so where is the limit switch? Is it the round one with the tubes coming out? Read a few other posts that looked close to my problem, but not certain. Also can I fix this myself? and about how much is a limit switch? Hope you can help as it is a bit cold here in Toledo. thanks!

#CARRIERMAN

Hi nomdeplume

It sounds like you could have a rollout limit tripped. The limit will be a little black thing next to the burner box with a wire coming off either side. There should be a little button located between the wires. Push in on the button, they are ussually hard to push. Let us know if this doesn't work and one of us will try and help.

Good luck
Rusty

nomdeplume

Hey Rusty, It worked! There were three of those little sensors and one of them was tripped. Thanks a bunch! This site has now found a home in my favorites as I am not at all handy around the home.

mdshunk

If that thing trips out again, please repost. It could be a fluke, or it could be an indictation of another problem. Just don't be surprised if you get to revisit this same problem later on.

acefurnacefixer

Dont be so sure its fixed, thats a "Flame roll out" switch and it means that you may have a much more serious issue, such as a bad heat exchanger.I am in the glass city as well I am a 22 year vetran of the hvac industry and If I can help I will.

mdshunk

Yeah, that's my fear too. I have seen very heavy sustained gusts of wind trip out furnaces; reset them, and they're fine for a very long time. Most often, you have a limit tripped and you're going to revisit that problem later. Sometimes, there are resettable limits on the plenum, which might only mean blocked vents due to rearranging furniture, kids dampering off vents, or a sorely dirty filter. I don't wish a popped heat exchanger on anyone, but that sure is the first thing that comes to mind.

#CARRIERMAN

Hi nomdeplume

Mdshunk and acefurnacefixer have a valid point. The reason I gave the information I did was the assumption that the sytem worked fine up till this point. If you were having problems with the furnace on a regular basis I would definatly have the furnace checked out. I always like to let people know, a yearly tune up on your heating and cooling system should be a top priorty for everyone. But make sure you use someone who is reputable, not just because they are the cheapest. The other thing to remeber is if they are availble in your area, look for NATE certified technicians. We have to be up to date on almost everything to be able to get this certification. When you get a NATE certified technician, they are among the elite of the industry. We personally back our service to our customers to the point if its not fixed properly the first time we fix it for free. That is how confident I am of my skills and my technicians skills. Look for a company that has a long term commitment to their community. If you can get all of this, you will have a good experince every time they visit your house.

Good luck
Rusty

acefurnacefixer

Nate is not real big in this area, we see it as a sales ploy.........Around here we stand on our own merits....the good techs are working and the hacks are working out of the back of the family sedan.
I have 22 years under my belt, you dont work that long in this trade if you are screwing people over and dont know what you are doing.

#CARRIERMAN

Hi acefurnacefixer

The unfortunate thing about being a NATE tech is as you mentioned. Some people use this as a sales ploy so they can do crappy work and charge a bunch of money for it. I believe it is like anything though, if its used for the proper purpose its a good thing. But humans can pervert anything. You did bring up a very valid point.

Rusty

nomdeplume

Ok guys, thanks for all the replies. Let me try to explain what happened. First of all bear in mind that I am the king of procrastinators. With that said, my furnace has been acting up, but only because of the fact that I have a broken flame sensor. (pic enclosed). Sometimes when my furnace starts up, it ignites but only on one side. The flame does not spread across the whole burner. Last winter is when I noticed that the porcelain around the sensor was cracked and a piece was broken off. Two sensors, the one with the igniter lights up but the flame does not spread across to the other side or if it does, the sensor does not pick it up and the flame shuts down, then goes thru the cycle again, etc. So I found that if I give a little blow on the flame when it first ignites the flame will spread over to the other side and the sensor will detect heat and it will work fine. (I must have blown too hard and tripped the switch?)So I hope that it is just a matter of picking up a new sensor that I have found on the web for about 10 bucks and installing it should do the trick. Tell me I am right and don't be too hard on me, as I know as I look back on this it sounds really stupid.

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#CARRIERMAN

Hi nomedeplume

I won't be hard on you, but watch out for the others. HaHa.
You need to pull and clean your burners with a wire brush, I would also reccomend having the furnace checked out by a reputible HVAC company. You are lucky when you have been blowing in the burner compartment that you have not created a backfire that hurt you. If the burners are badly rusted when you pull the out and clean them you will have to replace them. They are not all that expensive, and definatley alot cheaper than a trip to the emergency room for burns. Make sure that when you preform any kind of maintenance on the furnace that you shut the power off to the furnace, I like a good joke every now and then but there is nothing funny about hurting yourself. Let me know if you need any further help.

Good luck
Rusty

nomdeplume

Thanks Rusty, The furnace is only seven years old , no rust but will clean them anyways and have a checkup done.

acefurnacefixer

Did you get my e mail?