When your furnace has problems, safety mechanisms can shut down the furnace to protect it from damage or to protect occupants of your home from safety hazards. To restart your furnace after you identify a problem, you might have to press the reset button. You might wonder, “How do I reset my electronic ignition furnace?”
Don’t worry. The pros at Quality Heating Cooling & Plumbing have answers.
Quality Heating Cooling & Plumbing, the top choice for professional heater maintenance in Tulsa, has advice for furnace owners looking to troubleshoot and reset their furnaces. We have decades of experience as HVAC technicians and an unshakeable commitment to quality work. Ask us or visit our website for more practical HVAC maintenance and problem-solving tips.
Before discussing the procedure for resetting an electronic ignition furnace, consider the parts of a furnace and how they work.
How Does an Electronic Ignition Furnace Work?
A gas furnace contains a combustion chamber where burners ignite a mixture of natural gas and air to produce heat. The hot gases rise from the chamber and exit through the chimney, but before they do, they impart their heat to the air in your home through the heat exchanger. A blower distributes clean air through your HVAC ductwork once the furnace has warmed it.
Furnaces cycle between active and inactive cycles during normal operation. When your furnace becomes active, it needs a source of energy to ignite the burners and start the combustion process.
If your furnace has an electronic ignition system, a component called the igniter triggers ignition. The electronic igniter is an alternative to the pilot light, which uses a gas flame to ignite fuel.
Two main types of igniter cause ignition in different ways. The hot surface igniter (HSI) uses heat, while the intermittent pilot generates a spark. If the igniter is the source of the problem, you might have to call a professional technician to disassemble some parts of the combustion chamber and replace the igniter.
Why Do I Need To Reset My Electronic Ignition Furnace?
If you are wondering, “How do I reset my electronic ignition furnace?” it is probably because your furnace unexpectedly shut down. An important question to answer is why your furnace shut down in the first place.
As part of the process of resetting your furnace, you should plan on troubleshooting your furnace and fixing the underlying issue. Otherwise, your furnace will likely shut off again when the problem resurfaces.
A common reason for furnaces to shut off is a lack of airflow. When the furnace consumes fuel, byproducts of combustion like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide fill the chamber. If these chemicals cannot flow out of the chamber and make room for fresh air, combustion becomes inefficient and eventually impossible.
Incomplete combustion is dangerous because it produces hazardous fumes and can damage the heating system. It is unsafe for the furnace to operate without sufficient airflow.
A leading cause of poor airflow for a furnace is a dirty or clogged air filter. If your furnace has a dirty air filter, be sure to clean or replace it before you reset your furnace and turn it back on.
The Process for Resetting an Electronic Ignition Furnace
The best answer to the question, “how do I reset my electronic ignition furnace?” is to follow this step-by-step guide. If you encounter any furnace problems that you do not know how to fix or if you are not sure how to proceed, call a professional HVAC or heating technician to inspect your furnace.
The process will be different if you have a pilot light or if you have an oil furnace. Ask your maintenance technician if you are unsure what type of furnace you have.
Turn Off the Power to the Furnace
Go to the electrical panel in your house and trip the switch that controls power to the furnace. In addition to the main breaker switch, your furnace might have an on-off switch. Use either of these methods to disconnect the power to the furnace.
Wait a Few Minutes
It might take about five minutes for the furnace to turn off all electrical components after you shut off its power. Wait until the furnace is completely powered down before you try to access your furnace reset switch.
Open the Access Panel to Reach the Blower Motor
Your furnace should have an access panel that will let you reach components such as the blower motor. Open the access panel carefully and look around inside the furnace compartment.
Check the Furnace for Common Problems
Locate the furnace filter and see if it looks gray and dirty. Replace the filter if necessary. Look for other signs of damage or corrosion in the furnace and bring them to the attention of your furnace repair technician when you call for service. Check that your carbon monoxide detector has batteries and is working.
If you have a clean furnace filter and don’t see any other problems, you can reset your furnace and try to turn it on again.
Push the Reset Button
How do I reset my electronic ignition furnace? It’s easy once you find it. The reset button is usually yellow and located near the blower motor. If your furnace doesn’t have a reset button or you cannot find it, call a furnace repair technician for help.
Replace the Access Panel Door
Remember to replace the access door after inspecting and resetting the furnace. It is not safe to run the furnace with the access door open because toxic flue gases could potentially escape from the furnace compartment and enter the house. Most furnaces have switches that will prevent the furnace from working if the access door is off.
Restore Power to the Furnace
Find the switch you used to disconnect the furnace from the power supply and return it to the on position.
Turn Up the Temperature on Your Thermostat
When you restore power to the furnace, it might not immediately start again. You might need to raise the temperature using the thermostat panel or your phone app to trigger ignition.
What to Do After Resetting Your Furnace
Listen to your furnace. Does it shut off again after a couple of minutes? Is it making unusual sounds? If anything does not seem right about the way your furnace behaves, seek the assistance of a professional furnace technician to resolve the problem. If your carbon monoxide detector beeps, turn off the furnace and take your family and pets out of the house while you call a professional from a safe location.
Schedule Furnace Servicing From Quality Heating Cooling & Plumbing Today
Quality Heating Cooling & Plumbing is the leading heating, cooling, and plumbing company in the Tulsa, OK, area. We put our customer’s needs first and ensure we provide them with highest standards of home comfort.
We can help you answer many heating questions besides “how do I reset my electronic ignition furnace?” For example, we can give you tips on how to clean furnace ignitor surfaces and other furnace maintenance tasks.
Sometimes you can save the cost of a repair bill by doing maintenance tasks yourself, but don’t forget that Quality Heating Cooling & Plumbing, your neighborhood furnace company, is here to help you.
Call us at (918) 393-4204 for a free consultation, to schedule maintenance, or to arrange an inspection of your furnace. Let us help you decide if furnace replacement or furnace repair is the right choices for you.