Terry wrote:

"Colbyt" wrote in message
news:7MMjf.592796$_o.586930@attbi_s71...

"Sawney Beane" wrote in message

And a very important side note. Wear gloves when you handle the igniter.
The oils from your hand can cause a premature failure if any part of the
"ceramic" is touched. Learned that one the hard way.

I've never had one fail due to touching it. Rough handling, yes

I can't see a little skin oil doing anything to the silicone carbide. After
a split second of heating, no oil.

http://www.supco.com/images/pdfprodu...s/Ignitors.pdf

Terry, thanks a lot! The pdf indicates that it's widely believed
that a visual inspection will show whether an ignitor is operable.
I now believe my online dealer is honest.

White-Rodgers has developed a nitride converstion kit because HVAC
men get so many callbacks on installations of silicon carbide
ignitors. If the professionals can screw in a light bulb without
breaking it, I think they can install an ignitor without damaging
it. The skin-oil myth must be an attempt to explain failures where
no other cause is known.

Is Supco the only company that tries to expose myths about checking
and handling ignitors? If other companies are complacement about
the misinformation, maybe they're also complacent about quality control.