Rheem Classic 90 Plus Problem

Posted by on February 18, 2007, 11:25 am

I have a Rheem Classic 90 Plus furnace. Lately it has been shutting
down, normally at night and sometimes just switching the power off
then back on is enough to get it going. At other times turning the
power off and on will do nothing and then the furnace will start
working again on its own several hours later. We had a technician in
and he checked the furnace over and said because it was intermittent
he couldn't do much, cost $60.00 When the problem next appeared it was
a little different in that the burners would fire up for a couple of
seconds then shut down, then fire up and shut down, then the flame
light would flash on the control board. I cleaned the Remote Sensor
and the spark ignition and sensor and it seemed to work for about 4
days before it shut down again. Now it just tries to cycle on (no
Burn) and then shuts down, keeps trying to cycle on and at some point
is successful as the furnace eventually starts and runs. The other
evening it shut down and it was about 40 degrees when I got up, trying
to recycle the power did nothing. We called a technician right away,
but he showed up 5 hours later and by then the furnace had restarted.
He checked the inlet and outlet pressures which were OK and he said
the air inlet pipe was slanted downward going outside. He corrected
this so now it is slanted up going outside. That cost me $110.00 and
the following morning the furnace had once again shut down. Recycling
the power switch got it going again. The inlet pipe is 4" PVC which
has one 90 degree elbow and then reduces to 2 1/2" PVC going outside,
then another 90 degree elbow to bring it vertical and then another 90
degree to bring the inlet opening horizontal, total length of all
piping is about 8 feet. There is a moisture hose on the 4" PVC inlet
and there is water in the trap. Could wind or snow blowing into this
pipe cause the above problems? Any other suggestions, it is cold up
here and local technical help is limited where we live?

Posted by Noon-Air on February 18, 2007, 11:41 am

>I have a Rheem Classic 90 Plus furnace. Lately it has been shutting
> down, normally at night and sometimes just switching the power off
> then back on is enough to get it going. At other times turning the
> power off and on will do nothing and then the furnace will start
> working again on its own several hours later. We had a technician in
> and he checked the furnace over and said because it was intermittent
> he couldn't do much, cost $60.00 When the problem next appeared it was
> a little different in that the burners would fire up for a couple of
> seconds then shut down, then fire up and shut down, then the flame
> light would flash on the control board. I cleaned the Remote Sensor
> and the spark ignition and sensor and it seemed to work for about 4
> days before it shut down again. Now it just tries to cycle on (no
> Burn) and then shuts down, keeps trying to cycle on and at some point
> is successful as the furnace eventually starts and runs. The other
> evening it shut down and it was about 40 degrees when I got up, trying
> to recycle the power did nothing. We called a technician right away,
> but he showed up 5 hours later and by then the furnace had restarted.
> He checked the inlet and outlet pressures which were OK and he said
> the air inlet pipe was slanted downward going outside. He corrected
> this so now it is slanted up going outside. That cost me $110.00 and
> the following morning the furnace had once again shut down. Recycling
> the power switch got it going again. The inlet pipe is 4" PVC which
> has one 90 degree elbow and then reduces to 2 1/2" PVC going outside,
> then another 90 degree elbow to bring it vertical and then another 90
> degree to bring the inlet opening horizontal, total length of all
> piping is about 8 feet. There is a moisture hose on the 4" PVC inlet
> and there is water in the trap. Could wind or snow blowing into this
> pipe cause the above problems? Any other suggestions, it is cold up
> here and local technical help is limited where we live?

No idea where you are located...
got a model number of the furnace??
Have you gone to www.Rheemac.com to try to find another tech that knows what
he/she is doing??

Posted by Bob Pietrangelo on February 20, 2007, 4:42 pm

We just installed a Ruud 90% ......i think a UGFD.....

In following the instructions for the venting it was really different than I
have seen before. It was an 09 size furnace. We had to bump up the venting
from 2" at the furnace to 3", then withing 18" of the termination it had to
back down to 2" and extend straight out 12" past the wall. The inlet was I
believe terminated 4" outside the wall then the same thing 3" to 2" then
back into the furnace. Depending on the furnace size, it may go from 4-2.5
and back.

--
Bob Pietrangelo
bobp3@comcast.net (home)
bob@comfort-solution.biz (work)
www.comfort-solution.biz

>>I have a Rheem Classic 90 Plus furnace. Lately it has been shutting
>> down, normally at night and sometimes just switching the power off
>> then back on is enough to get it going. At other times turning the
>> power off and on will do nothing and then the furnace will start
>> working again on its own several hours later. We had a technician in
>> and he checked the furnace over and said because it was intermittent
>> he couldn't do much, cost $60.00 When the problem next appeared it was
>> a little different in that the burners would fire up for a couple of
>> seconds then shut down, then fire up and shut down, then the flame
>> light would flash on the control board. I cleaned the Remote Sensor
>> and the spark ignition and sensor and it seemed to work for about 4
>> days before it shut down again. Now it just tries to cycle on (no
>> Burn) and then shuts down, keeps trying to cycle on and at some point
>> is successful as the furnace eventually starts and runs. The other
>> evening it shut down and it was about 40 degrees when I got up, trying
>> to recycle the power did nothing. We called a technician right away,
>> but he showed up 5 hours later and by then the furnace had restarted.
>> He checked the inlet and outlet pressures which were OK and he said
>> the air inlet pipe was slanted downward going outside. He corrected
>> this so now it is slanted up going outside. That cost me $110.00 and
>> the following morning the furnace had once again shut down. Recycling
>> the power switch got it going again. The inlet pipe is 4" PVC which
>> has one 90 degree elbow and then reduces to 2 1/2" PVC going outside,
>> then another 90 degree elbow to bring it vertical and then another 90
>> degree to bring the inlet opening horizontal, total length of all
>> piping is about 8 feet. There is a moisture hose on the 4" PVC inlet
>> and there is water in the trap. Could wind or snow blowing into this
>> pipe cause the above problems? Any other suggestions, it is cold up
>> here and local technical help is limited where we live?

> No idea where you are located...
> got a model number of the furnace??
> Have you gone to www.Rheemac.com to try to find another tech that knows
> what he/she is doing??
>

Posted by =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Tekkie=AE?= on February 20, 2007, 7:45 pm

Bob Pietrangelo wrote:

> We just installed a Ruud 90% ......i think a UGFD.....
>
> In following the instructions for the venting

Uh oh, please don't let that get around...

Posted by on February 20, 2007, 8:26 pm

Bob Pietrangelo wrote:

> We just installed a Ruud 90% ......i think a UGFD.....
> In following the instructions for the venting it was really different than I
> have seen before. It was an 09 size furnace. We had to bump up the venting
> from 2" at the furnace to 3", then withing 18" of the termination it had to
> back down to 2" and extend straight out 12" past the wall. The inlet was I
> believe terminated 4" outside the wall then the same thing 3" to 2" then
> back into the furnace. Depending on the furnace size, it may go from 4-2.5
> and back.
> --
> Bob Pietrangelo
> bobp3@comcast.net (home)
> bob@comfort-solution.biz (work)
> www.comfort-solution.biz

Hi Bob,

Thank you for your insight, I got the same answer in another group.
It seems for this furnace the installation instructions require that
for this furnace the inlet and outlet pipes must be reduced going
through the wall and outside. My furnace has been running like a
charm for the last couple of days (the temperature has warmed up quite
a bit) so I am going to have a Rheem installer look at the furnace to
rule out any pressure switch problems and then I am going to change
over to Natural Gas, I just don't like the possible problems with
propane when it gets very cold. Thanks again for the information, it
is nice to know there are some well informed HVAC techs out there
trying to provide insighful answers.

> >>I have a Rheem Classic 90 Plus furnace. Lately it has been shutting
> >> down, normally at night and sometimes just switching the power off
> >> then back on is enough to get it going. At other times turning the
> >> power off and on will do nothing and then the furnace will start
> >> working again on its own several hours later. We had a technician in
> >> and he checked the furnace over and said because it was intermittent
> >> he couldn't do much, cost $60.00 When the problem next appeared it was
> >> a little different in that the burners would fire up for a couple of
> >> seconds then shut down, then fire up and shut down, then the flame
> >> light would flash on the control board. I cleaned the Remote Sensor
> >> and the spark ignition and sensor and it seemed to work for about 4
> >> days before it shut down again. Now it just tries to cycle on (no
> >> Burn) and then shuts down, keeps trying to cycle on and at some point
> >> is successful as the furnace eventually starts and runs. The other
> >> evening it shut down and it was about 40 degrees when I got up, trying
> >> to recycle the power did nothing. We called a technician right away,
> >> but he showed up 5 hours later and by then the furnace had restarted.
> >> He checked the inlet and outlet pressures which were OK and he said
> >> the air inlet pipe was slanted downward going outside. He corrected
> >> this so now it is slanted up going outside. That cost me $110.00 and
> >> the following morning the furnace had once again shut down. Recycling
> >> the power switch got it going again. The inlet pipe is 4" PVC which
> >> has one 90 degree elbow and then reduces to 2 1/2" PVC going outside,
> >> then another 90 degree elbow to bring it vertical and then another 90
> >> degree to bring the inlet opening horizontal, total length of all
> >> piping is about 8 feet. There is a moisture hose on the 4" PVC inlet
> >> and there is water in the trap. Could wind or snow blowing into this
> >> pipe cause the above problems? Any other suggestions, it is cold up
> >> here and local technical help is limited where we live?

> > No idea where you are located...
> > got a model number of the furnace??
> > Have you gone to www.Rheemac.com to try to find another tech that knows
> > what he/she is doing??

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