This ol' furnace has been acting up for a month or so. It's a Payne,
but I can not find the model number, nor do I know how old it is. The
red light is doing a 3/4 blink sequence and everything works up to the
burner staying on. The fan ends up blowing coolish air for a minute or
so, then the whole thing starts over again and eventually after several
attempts the burner stays on and warm air gets blown. Tonight this went
on for over an hour without any heat being made, so I shut it all down.
Any ideas? Should I try restarting it? There is no gas odor, but is
there still a risk? I have plenty of warm woolies to put on, but their
kinda scratchy and company is due Saturday. Any help would be greatly
appreciated! Thanks, Kayle

On 24 Jan 2007 21:09:17 -0800, wrote:

This ol' furnace has been acting up for a month or so. It's a Payne,
but I can not find the model number, nor do I know how old it is. The
red light is doing a 3/4 blink sequence and everything works up to the
burner staying on. The fan ends up blowing coolish air for a minute or
so, then the whole thing starts over again and eventually after several
attempts the burner stays on and warm air gets blown. Tonight this went
on for over an hour without any heat being made, so I shut it all down.
Any ideas? Should I try restarting it? There is no gas odor, but is
there still a risk? I have plenty of warm woolies to put on, but their
kinda scratchy and company is due Saturday. Any help would be greatly
appreciated! Thanks, Kayle

Don't know anything specific about 3/4 blinking but if the burner
lights but won't stay on then most likely the furnace is not sensing
the flame. It will shut itself down because it assumes no flame.
It will try again only to shut down again. The furnace eventually
lights because the problem is marginal.

The sensing device may be a thermocouple bulb placed close to the
flame.......clean or reposition slightly closer to the flame. Replace
if necessary.

The sensing device may be some sort of light sensor....clean the
surface facing the flame or replace.

In article ,
says...
On 24 Jan 2007 21:09:17 -0800, wrote:

This ol' furnace has been acting up for a month or so. It's a Payne,
but I can not find the model number, nor do I know how old it is. The
red light is doing a 3/4 blink sequence and everything works up to the
burner staying on. The fan ends up blowing coolish air for a minute or
so, then the whole thing starts over again and eventually after several
attempts the burner stays on and warm air gets blown. Tonight this went
on for over an hour without any heat being made, so I shut it all down.
Any ideas? Should I try restarting it? There is no gas odor, but is
there still a risk? I have plenty of warm woolies to put on, but their
kinda scratchy and company is due Saturday. Any help would be greatly
appreciated! Thanks, Kayle

Don't know anything specific about 3/4 blinking but if the burner
lights but won't stay on then most likely the furnace is not sensing
the flame.

That, or there's no draft. Could be the draft sensor is bad, or perhaps
the flue is obstructed. First thing I'd do is inspect the flue.

You may be right on. A response I received from another group that was
suggested to me, said the blinking indicates 'ignition lockout' . Thank
you so much for your input!
wrote:
On 24 Jan 2007 21:09:17 -0800, wrote:

This ol' furnace has been acting up for a month or so. It's a Payne,
but I can not find the model number, nor do I know how old it is. The
red light is doing a 3/4 blink sequence and everything works up to the
burner staying on. The fan ends up blowing coolish air for a minute or
so, then the whole thing starts over again and eventually after several
attempts the burner stays on and warm air gets blown. Tonight this went
on for over an hour without any heat being made, so I shut it all down.
Any ideas? Should I try restarting it? There is no gas odor, but is
there still a risk? I have plenty of warm woolies to put on, but their
kinda scratchy and company is due Saturday. Any help would be greatly
appreciated! Thanks, Kayle

Don't know anything specific about 3/4 blinking but if the burner
lights but won't stay on then most likely the furnace is not sensing
the flame. It will shut itself down because it assumes no flame.
It will try again only to shut down again. The furnace eventually
lights because the problem is marginal.

The sensing device may be a thermocouple bulb placed close to the
flame.......clean or reposition slightly closer to the flame. Replace
if necessary.

The sensing device may be some sort of light sensor....clean the
surface facing the flame or replace.

Hang with me here. Checking the flue means on the roof, right? I can
do that, if that's right. And with all the snow lately it makes sense.
Thanks.
Doug Miller wrote:
In article ,
says...
On 24 Jan 2007 21:09:17 -0800, wrote:

This ol' furnace has been acting up for a month or so. It's a Payne,
but I can not find the model number, nor do I know how old it is. The
red light is doing a 3/4 blink sequence and everything works up to the
burner staying on. The fan ends up blowing coolish air for a minute or
so, then the whole thing starts over again and eventually after several
attempts the burner stays on and warm air gets blown. Tonight this went
on for over an hour without any heat being made, so I shut it all down.
Any ideas? Should I try restarting it? There is no gas odor, but is
there still a risk? I have plenty of warm woolies to put on, but their
kinda scratchy and company is due Saturday. Any help would be greatly
appreciated! Thanks, Kayle

Don't know anything specific about 3/4 blinking but if the burner
lights but won't stay on then most likely the furnace is not sensing
the flame.

That, or there's no draft. Could be the draft sensor is bad, or perhaps
the flue is obstructed. First thing I'd do is inspect the flue.

Had a similar problem with another brand of furnace, I found the electronic
thermostat batteries were low, but not low enough to have the "replace
battery" light come on. Later I found it was eating batteries and had to
change them every week. It got worse so that replacing the batteries did
nothing. Changed over to a good quality Honeywell electronic thermostat and
it has been fine for years.


wrote in message
oups.com...
This ol' furnace has been acting up for a month or so. It's a Payne,
but I can not find the model number, nor do I know how old it is. The
red light is doing a 3/4 blink sequence and everything works up to the
burner staying on. The fan ends up blowing coolish air for a minute or
so, then the whole thing starts over again and eventually after several
attempts the burner stays on and warm air gets blown. Tonight this went
on for over an hour without any heat being made, so I shut it all down.
Any ideas? Should I try restarting it? There is no gas odor, but is
there still a risk? I have plenty of warm woolies to put on, but their
kinda scratchy and company is due Saturday. Any help would be greatly
appreciated! Thanks, Kayle

Interesting. This whole set up is pretty ancient and I would do well
to have it serviced soon, I think. Meanwhile, I gently cleaned the
flame sensor, checked for obstructions and Violá . . . heat! So far so
good. A new thermostat may yet be in my future, tho! Thank you!
EXT wrote:
Had a similar problem with another brand of furnace, I found the electronic
thermostat batteries were low, but not low enough to have the "replace
battery" light come on. Later I found it was eating batteries and had to
change them every week. It got worse so that replacing the batteries did
nothing. Changed over to a good quality Honeywell electronic thermostat and
it has been fine for years.


wrote in message
oups.com...
This ol' furnace has been acting up for a month or so. It's a Payne,
but I can not find the model number, nor do I know how old it is. The
red light is doing a 3/4 blink sequence and everything works up to the
burner staying on. The fan ends up blowing coolish air for a minute or
so, then the whole thing starts over again and eventually after several
attempts the burner stays on and warm air gets blown. Tonight this went
on for over an hour without any heat being made, so I shut it all down.
Any ideas? Should I try restarting it? There is no gas odor, but is
there still a risk? I have plenty of warm woolies to put on, but their
kinda scratchy and company is due Saturday. Any help would be greatly
appreciated! Thanks, Kayle

Interesting. This whole set up is pretty ancient and I would do well
to have it serviced soon, I think. Meanwhile, I gently cleaned the
flame sensor, checked for obstructions and Violá . . . heat! So far so
good. A new thermostat may yet be in my future, tho! Thank you!

Don't tell anyone from HVAC that you fixed it yourself or you may be
threatened with scenarios of your house blowing up or being overcome
by toxic fumes.

They would rather have you pay them first before they get the chance
at blowing up your house.

wrote:
Interesting. This whole set up is pretty ancient and I would do well
to have it serviced soon, I think. Meanwhile, I gently cleaned the
flame sensor, checked for obstructions and Violá . . . heat! So far so
good. A new thermostat may yet be in my future, tho! Thank you!

Don't tell anyone from HVAC that you fixed it yourself or you may be
threatened with scenarios of your house blowing up or being overcome
by toxic fumes.

They would rather have you pay them first before they get the chance
at blowing up your house.

Yikes! The exact scenarios I've had in my head for a couple days now.
My bravado is fragile!

On 26 Jan 2007 13:09:43 -0800, "kayle" wrote:


wrote:
Interesting. This whole set up is pretty ancient and I would do well
to have it serviced soon, I think. Meanwhile, I gently cleaned the
flame sensor, checked for obstructions and Violá . . . heat! So far so
good. A new thermostat may yet be in my future, tho! Thank you!

Don't tell anyone from HVAC that you fixed it yourself or you may be
threatened with scenarios of your house blowing up or being overcome
by toxic fumes.

They would rather have you pay them first before they get the chance
at blowing up your house.

Yikes! The exact scenarios I've had in my head for a couple days now.
My bravado is fragile!

You can't hurt your furnace by cleaning the sensor or inspecting the
flue. The people from HVAC would like you to think so.