Furnace Pilot Light Flame Sensor

If you have a direct ignition furnace you won t have a pilot light.

Furnace pilot light flame sensor.

Grainger carries mercury flame sensors with three pin plugs and adapter fittings included. For a flame detector or other furnace parts shop grainger today. Designed and used in much the same fashion as the larger flame sensor the pilot sensor monitors the presence of the pre ignition pilot flame. A flame sensor lets your furnace know that the pilot was successfully lit.

The gas valve sends gas to the main burner s which is lit by the pilot light. A gas pilot flame sensor is an essential safety component for any gas furnace. Is there anything else that could. The pilot flame is used to ignite the larger furnace main flame for heating.

If your furnace burners light and stay lit for a few seconds and then shut off you most likely have a bad or dirty flame sensor. There is a thermocouple the thing that is glowing red in the pilot light that tells the furnace the pilot lit. Newer furnace units now use a real time pilot mechanism which generates a spark to ignite the furnace flame. Flame sensors are used in furnaces with electronic ignition rather than a standing pilot light and might include an intermittent pilot or a hot surface ignition type.

If the flame appears to be too small or sputters on and off then the simple solution would be to adjust the size of the flame using a screw that you will see on the pilot light. Most home furnaces also employ a pilot flame sensor as well. I have cleaned the flame sensor in my furnace but the burner still will not stay lit. If that is bad it will continue to try to light the pilot.

These units have electronic igniters that light the gas for the burners while the flame sensor makes sure the burners have lighted successfully. They are not real expensive but that would be the first thing to replace. The pilot light is lit by an electronic spark. Older furnace units may employ a constant pilot flame for the ignition process.

A gas furnace s standing pilot in which the flame is lit at all times is sometimes referred to as a pilot light but no matter what you call it its purpose is to serve as a small ignition flame for the gas burner when the thermostat signals for gas to be delivered from the gas valve to the burner it is the standing pilot that ignites the gas flowing to the burners to heat the air in the. Here i show what a flame sensor is and the symptoms of a gas furnace.