# 20 yr old gas furnace shuts off burners after ignition very intermittant



## pte88 (Feb 2, 2009)

Furnace shuts off burner with no warning every three or four days.  It shuts off the gas to the burners.  The induction blower keeps running and the pilot stays lit.  To get it running again, I shut off the power, turn the knob on the Honeywell VR8440 to the off position.  Wait several minutes, turn the VR8440 knob to the on position and turn on the power.  It comes back on and runs normally for three or four days.  The day before this problem started every time we used the gas range the flames were totally yellow.  Later that same day they were blue again.  Could the gas company have had either dirt or moisture in their lines that is affecting the Honeywell gas control ?


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## creo (Mar 22, 2009)

i got similar issue. pilot is lit, but cold air is blowing.. seems like gas valve is not operating properly... or thermocouple (if its there). so, what did you find out?


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## Wirenuts (Mar 26, 2009)

You can have your gas supplier check the incoming pressure first, be that natural or LP to see if a regulator is sticking, then if that checks out you should have your home gas system checked out by a professional.  There may be a restriction somewhere in the supply piping or a valve problem.  If you haven't had your furnace cleaned regularly, (every year for me) you should have the entire system cleaned, starting with ducts and ending with the air conditioning condensor coils and drip pan.  I hope this helps you solve your problem.


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## rogerknapp (Dec 29, 2012)

vent on gas meter could be icing over that might be why the flame improved later in the day when the ice thawed .check to see if water is dripping from the roof onto your gasmeter


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## BuzzLOL (Oct 26, 2015)

Similar problem as OP... main burner works for 5 minutes and then shuts off... 24V power is still on to main burner (so it's not a flame sensor problem)... seems to go open circuit internally to main solenoid... 24V pilot is lit... (both use same neutral/common wire) seems like main solenoid is over heating or loosing connection internally... wait an hour and it works another 5 minutes... enough heat for October, but not for winter... seen a video where a different Honeywell gas valve had flat copper press contact connectors and they weren't making reliable connection and guy removed them and replaced them with soldered on wires, instead... will pull this assembly apart and see if something similar inside... also saw one that had stock a printed circuit board with a full-wave bridge rectifier IC chip inside (and filter capacitors?) to convert 24V AC to 24 V DC to eliminate hum... another possible source of a problem... Honeywell VR8440P 2 stage redundant gas valve (no thermocouple connection) used in Tempstar, Sears, Kenmore, Heil-Quaker Energy Marshal Two, Dayton Fuel Trimmer, etc. 90+% gas furnaces made by Whirlpool... very good furnaces...


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