hvactechfw

yes, if the inducer never stops running even when there is no call for heat, then you need a control board.

pookie16

I made an appointment with some guy for Monday. The inducer does stop running sometimes. It is just difficult to sit by the furnace all day to see what happens when it stops functioning correctly. Of course, when the temperature drops, there is a already a call for heat. So it is difficult to know when the inducer was running or not.
Thanks for the suggestions. I will post what the guy does to fix the problem.

pookie16

That guy came and charged me $120. He set the thermostat for a longer cycle, thinks he might have cleaned the vacuum nozzle, and put a longer hose going to the pressure switch. The theory is that the thermostat was calling for heat while the inducer motor was still turning. This way, the pressure switch doesn't open and the cycle is disrupted. I am heading out of town again, so hopefully the $120 pays off.

pookie16

It appears the $120 spent has had no impact. The wife suspects that the furnace quits more often than before the mods. My next step will be to replace the mercury thermostat with a new fangled electronic one as the guy I gave the money to suspected that calls for heat were coming too quickly while the inducer was still turning. If that does nothing, then the board will be replaced.

pookie16

The furnace has been running without problem for 3 days now despite not changing anything. This makes me think it is the board. I am afraid to leave the house unattended in case the furnace quits again and the pipes freeze. Difficult to fix a problem without it shutting down on its own.

paul52446m

I am a heating dealer and what i do for my customers is, for a small yearly fee, i have them put in a PH alarm with a heat censer in it that is set at 45 degrees. So when the heat in the home drops to 45 the PH alarm will call me
and we pick it up on caller ID. We have the home owners key, so we fix it. Its a great system and i charge them $30.00 a year to be in our system.
Paul

pookie16

That sounds incredibly good. I will see if anyone has something like that in my area.

hvactechfw

OR, you could get a paging system that will call YOU if the heat goes that low. and not have to pay a yearly fee. Or you could get a wifi thermostat and check your home temp online or on your phone.

paul52446m

The reason my customers like being on my yearly program with a PH alarm is
This is a resort area so a lot of these people are not here only on weekends.
They could just buy a PH alarm and have the alarm call there Ph with a long distance call every 15 min. until the heat comes back up, or if they want peace of mind, they can have it call me in the middle of the night and i will take cake of there problem even if they are out of the country. My customers love them.
Paul

pookie16

The problem went away. The furnace has been working for more than a week now. This makes me think it is the mother board, as modern electronics is prone to doing wacky things.