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Tempstar ps80(?) malfunction Frank P 12-10-2007
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Posted by Frank P on December 10, 2007, 5:02 pm
Hi,

I have z Tempstar - I think it's an older ps80 - furnace in my
basement. Over the weekend, it has been functioning irregularly.

Please excuse any misuse of terminology - I'm among other things a
mechanic, but not an hvac guy.

On the surface, somtimes the heater would go on and blow nothing but
cool air around. So I had a look at the aggregate.

Correct me if I'm wrong, please: The proper order of events is this:

1). inducer motor starts up
2). heating wire glows
3). pilot light ignites on heating wire
4). two gas jets ignite on pilot light
5). fan wheel come on.

Most of Saturday, the two gas jets did not ignite, and I think it's
safe to assume, there were no gas jets (the pilot was lit). However,
I found that by opening the blower cabinet and pressing the 'dead-man'
switch, and then going through the ignition sequence, I could always
get them to ignite eventually (after maybe 8 or 10 tries).

The furnace worked fine all of Sunday, but failed one single time to
ignite this morning (Monday).

Hypothesis 1). The valve is sticky or defective
Hypothesis 2). The sensor (bi-metal?) is sticky or defective.

Does this sound reasonable? Or are there better explanations?

Particularly, does this sound like something that is likely to recur
often that I need to do something about, or might there have been,
say, some impurity or something temporarily clogging up the works?

Thanks for any help. Frank




Posted by Dave on December 10, 2007, 5:32 pm
How many years has it been since you had it serviced?
> Hi,
>
> I have z Tempstar - I think it's an older ps80 - furnace in my
> basement. Over the weekend, it has been functioning irregularly.
>
> Please excuse any misuse of terminology - I'm among other things a
> mechanic, but not an hvac guy.
>
> On the surface, somtimes the heater would go on and blow nothing but
> cool air around. So I had a look at the aggregate.
>
> Correct me if I'm wrong, please: The proper order of events is this:
>
> 1). inducer motor starts up
> 2). heating wire glows
> 3). pilot light ignites on heating wire
> 4). two gas jets ignite on pilot light
> 5). fan wheel come on.
>
> Most of Saturday, the two gas jets did not ignite, and I think it's
> safe to assume, there were no gas jets (the pilot was lit). However,
> I found that by opening the blower cabinet and pressing the 'dead-man'
> switch, and then going through the ignition sequence, I could always
> get them to ignite eventually (after maybe 8 or 10 tries).
>
> The furnace worked fine all of Sunday, but failed one single time to
> ignite this morning (Monday).
>
> Hypothesis 1). The valve is sticky or defective
> Hypothesis 2). The sensor (bi-metal?) is sticky or defective.
>
> Does this sound reasonable? Or are there better explanations?
>
> Particularly, does this sound like something that is likely to recur
> often that I need to do something about, or might there have been,
> say, some impurity or something temporarily clogging up the works?
>
> Thanks for any help. Frank
>
>
>



Posted by Frank P on December 10, 2007, 6:01 pm

Dave, the furnace was in the house when we bought it three years ago.
One year ago at the start of the heating season it made a horrible
racket, and we had someone come and look at it - he pulled a plastic
comb and a dead mouse out of the fan wheel. That's all I know. Do
they need regular maintenance?



wrote:

>How many years has it been since you had it serviced?
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have z Tempstar - I think it's an older ps80 - furnace in my
>> basement. Over the weekend, it has been functioning irregularly.
>>
>> Please excuse any misuse of terminology - I'm among other things a
>> mechanic, but not an hvac guy.
>>
>> On the surface, somtimes the heater would go on and blow nothing but
>> cool air around. So I had a look at the aggregate.
>>
>> Correct me if I'm wrong, please: The proper order of events is this:
>>
>> 1). inducer motor starts up
>> 2). heating wire glows
>> 3). pilot light ignites on heating wire
>> 4). two gas jets ignite on pilot light
>> 5). fan wheel come on.
>>
>> Most of Saturday, the two gas jets did not ignite, and I think it's
>> safe to assume, there were no gas jets (the pilot was lit). However,
>> I found that by opening the blower cabinet and pressing the 'dead-man'
>> switch, and then going through the ignition sequence, I could always
>> get them to ignite eventually (after maybe 8 or 10 tries).
>>
>> The furnace worked fine all of Sunday, but failed one single time to
>> ignite this morning (Monday).
>>
>> Hypothesis 1). The valve is sticky or defective
>> Hypothesis 2). The sensor (bi-metal?) is sticky or defective.
>>
>> Does this sound reasonable? Or are there better explanations?
>>
>> Particularly, does this sound like something that is likely to recur
>> often that I need to do something about, or might there have been,
>> say, some impurity or something temporarily clogging up the works?
>>
>> Thanks for any help. Frank
>>
>>
>>
>


Posted by on December 10, 2007, 6:08 pm

>
>Dave, the furnace was in the house when we bought it three years ago.
>One year ago at the start of the heating season it made a horrible
>racket, and we had someone come and look at it - he pulled a plastic
>comb and a dead mouse out of the fan wheel. That's all I know. Do
>they need regular maintenance?

        Did he replace the dead mouse with a fresh one ?

>
>
>
>wrote:
>
>>How many years has it been since you had it serviced?
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I have z Tempstar - I think it's an older ps80 - furnace in my
>>> basement. Over the weekend, it has been functioning irregularly.
>>>
>>> Please excuse any misuse of terminology - I'm among other things a
>>> mechanic, but not an hvac guy.
>>>
>>> On the surface, somtimes the heater would go on and blow nothing but
>>> cool air around. So I had a look at the aggregate.
>>>
>>> Correct me if I'm wrong, please: The proper order of events is this:
>>>
>>> 1). inducer motor starts up
>>> 2). heating wire glows
>>> 3). pilot light ignites on heating wire
>>> 4). two gas jets ignite on pilot light
>>> 5). fan wheel come on.
>>>
>>> Most of Saturday, the two gas jets did not ignite, and I think it's
>>> safe to assume, there were no gas jets (the pilot was lit). However,
>>> I found that by opening the blower cabinet and pressing the 'dead-man'
>>> switch, and then going through the ignition sequence, I could always
>>> get them to ignite eventually (after maybe 8 or 10 tries).
>>>
>>> The furnace worked fine all of Sunday, but failed one single time to
>>> ignite this morning (Monday).
>>>
>>> Hypothesis 1). The valve is sticky or defective
>>> Hypothesis 2). The sensor (bi-metal?) is sticky or defective.
>>>
>>> Does this sound reasonable? Or are there better explanations?
>>>
>>> Particularly, does this sound like something that is likely to recur
>>> often that I need to do something about, or might there have been,
>>> say, some impurity or something temporarily clogging up the works?
>>>
>>> Thanks for any help. Frank
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>

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Posted by Frank P on December 10, 2007, 6:21 pm
On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:08:24 -0500, .p.jm@see_my_sig_for_address.com
wrote:

>
>>
>>Dave, the furnace was in the house when we bought it three years ago.
>>One year ago at the start of the heating season it made a horrible
>>racket, and we had someone come and look at it - he pulled a plastic
>>comb and a dead mouse out of the fan wheel. That's all I know. Do
>>they need regular maintenance?
>
>        Did he replace the dead mouse with a fresh one ?

Luckily, the wheel runs well on electricity, so it wasn't necessary to
replace the mouse - I really don't like putting animals to work.
Otherwise, though, I think I would have opted for a hamster.




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