Intermittent Heat Trouble: Goodman GMSS960803BNAA Furnace

Attention DIYers: you attempt anything shown in this video or mentioned here entirely at your own risk. Know your limits and when to call a professional.

I first noticed this Goodman 96% AFUE furnace acting up when it didn't respond to the thermostat's request for heat. Later, I heard it try and fail to ignite. Fault codes 1 (retries exceeded) and 7 (low flame sense signal) were recorded. Try as I might to catch it in the act, it wouldn't mess up on camera.

Let's see what all might be wrong with it, and if I can fix it. Furhead, the Keykeeper and a dead mouse also show up in this video to lend a hand and provide some amusement along the way. The dead mouse didn't actually help out very much, but as with so many other dead mice, that's a common problem.

Gas pressure looked acceptable, all other subsystems in the furnace appeared to be working as intended, and the flame sensing rod was cleaned. It looks as though the burner box, if not the "inshot" burners themselves, could also stand to be cleaned.

Of the two furnaces in the building, this is the one most used and depended upon, as the other is shut completely off when the building is not in use. (I think they should consider leaving the other one on and set at a lower temperature as a backup.)

At some point, I should probably get and educate myself on the use of a combustion analyzer for furnaces. They are seriously not cheap, though.

I should have brought my own flashlight. I forgot that I have a search magnet. It's a large one I got at an auto parts store many years ago and comes with the added bonus of the magnet head lighting up. It would probably have been too large for this job, so I should probably buy a smaller one or steal the Keykeeper's magnet when he's not looking. I did try poking the search magnet behind the draft inducer, and the screw refused to give up and stop hiding back there.

The Hammond organ is still going strong, in case you want to know.

The Curbled Electrolux vacuum cleaner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm4ZdnJ1K68) is also still going strong. Not even a basement flood in 2018 could kill it. You should have seen the dust that came out of it after I let it dry out and tested it. Evidently it was the truth at one time, that nothing sucks like an Electrolux!

Credit to Bizzarefurhead (his spelling) for the brief "manometer" interlude.

Youtube can take their mandatory 2FA for monetizing accounts and blow it out their hind end.

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