Troubleshooting a ame rectication system

The method used to prove ame in most gas- red products produced in the
July 11, 2000 last seven or eight years is often misunderstood. This method is usually
known as ame recti cation.
Many servicers believe the ame sensor takes an active role in proving ame, and because of this, believe
the sensors sometimes fail. Lets look at what happens.

In order to verify ame, the ignition control must establish current ow using the ame as a conductor.
(Did you know that carbon molecules in a ame will conduct an electrical current?)

The mechanics of ame sensing

When everything is working right, the moment ame touches the sensor, the module establishes and
monitors this current ow.
The voltage at the sensor is ac (alternating current), but because of the great difference in mass between
the ame sensor and the furnace chassis, this voltage is recti ed from ac to dc (direct current), usually
less than 10 microamps.

As long as this current ow exists, the ignition control will power the gas valve.

The ame sensor is not sensing anything. The ame sensors only claim to fame is that it is resistant to
the effects of being immersed in ame.

A ame sensor can become coated with a silica-type material. (Silica is a component of glass and glass is a
great insulator.) When this happens, all that is required is a cleaning of the sensor with a light abrasive.

Thats the mechanical side. Now lets look at what can go wrong electrically.

Electrical snafus
We know that 115 vac has one hot leg and one neutral. The black (or common) leg has the potential to
ground. The neutral does not.
Apply this to what we just learned about ame sensing and think about what will happen if a furnace is
installed with the neutral and common reversed.

The module must establish current ow through the ame to ground, right? So if the black and white are
switched in the junction box or the receptacle, there is no ame sense because there is no voltage
potential.

Everything else in the unit works ne, but a few seconds after the burners light . . . the module closes the
gas valve because the power for the ame-proving circuit is not there.

What if the common and neutral are connected properly, but the ame still drops out for no reason?

Check the ground to the unit. Heres how:

You have already measured between common (black) and ground and read 120 vac. Now measure between
neutral (white) and ground to be sure you have no voltage (0.0 vac).

Remember, your ame-sense current is very small, usually less than 10 microamps dc. Think about what
would happen to the ame-sense current if there were another voltage potential at the furnace chassis
because of a poor ground.

The same problems can occur on a gas pack if the unit is not properly grounded. You might also have
problems on a three-phase unit if the stinger leg is the line that winds up as the ignition controls power
source.

The ignition control needs a clean, properly polarized voltage source to do its job.

Copyright 2017. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing