Lochinvar Heater: Ignition Failure Lockout

[mickey4paws]

We have a Lochinvar Energy Rite gas heater. This is our 5th season with it and up until now it has performed flawlessly.

Now, when we start the heater, it says Prepurge, and then you can hear the fan start, then it goes through the Prepurge cycle 4 times and then turns off with the message on the display: "Ignition Failure Lockout" According to the manual, it will do the Prepurge 4 times and if it doesn't see a flame, it will display that lockout message. Normally, when functioning correctly, it will Prepurge, fan turns on, then goes to Postpurge and then it's on.

From my understanding the way to reset the heater is just to power it off and then back on. There is no reset button on the display, in normal mode, or in the Setup or Service menus. We did power it off and back on, but no luck, still the same lockout message.

We do have someone coming out but not till next Tuesday, and just wondering if anyone has any ideas on this. Thanks.

 

[danpik]

it is possible that you could have a bad igniter. I am not sure if this unit uses a spark igniter or a hot surface igniter. Also check to see if the flame sensor needs cleaning.

 

[mickey4paws]

it is possible that you could have a bad igniter. I am not sure if this unit uses a spark igniter or a hot surface igniter. Also check to see if the flame sensor needs cleaning.

Thanks very much for the reply. I'm pretty sure this uses a hot surface igniter. I have the service manual for the heater, and it shows how to clean the burner and heat exchanger. I would have no idea how to clean the flame sensor but I'm going to see if that's in the manual too but since they're coming out Tuesday, I'll just wait. I'm too afraid to open up the heater. With my luck it would explode or something :-X

When I called Lochinvar they said it could just might need a cleaning or it could be the gas pressure, although we haven't done anything different to the heater so don't know why that would change. I think he also said something about a flame rod (?) Lochinvar really doesn't want to give the homeowner too much information but they will troubleshoot with a pro. I can't blame them as I'm sure they don't want the liability.

I hope you're right and it just needs the flame sensor cleaned.

 

[mickey4paws]

Update: Re: Lochinvar Heater: Ignition Failure Lockout

Hi all, just wanted to post an update on my heater in case anyone else ever has a similar problem. Turned out it was just a dirty flame sensor. Guy came out, cleaned it and it fired right up. He checked the burner, heat exchanger, etc and said everything looks good.

Of course right after he fixed it, the weather turned really hot :lol:

 

[danpik]

Glad it was simple. If you watched him, you should be able to do it yourself next time.

 

[mickey4paws]

Glad it was simple. If you watched him, you should be able to do it yourself next time.

Thanks No, I didn't watch him. I know I should have but at the time I had no idea what it was, so I didn't want to breath down his neck. But now I wish I had!