It all began with a power outage this past Friday night. We were expecting a big snowstorm for the weekend and its was so windy that it might have caused us to lose power around 9 pm as we were going to bed. To make a long story short, the power returned past midnight and the next morning, on Saturday our heating system didn’t appear to be working too well. 

It kind of sputtered before quitting on us early in the afternoon. Early afternoon is when it began to snow like crazy and just before that, I removed the furnace flame sensor, cleaned it up and replaced it without being able to get the furnace firing up again. I then did some online research and learned that it’s uncommon for flame sensors to fail after a few years and it’s a recommended practice to systematically change them every five years. 

I didn’t know it and it’s true that we learn something new everyday! I also check if our local Home Depot had the part in stock and I misread that they did (I only missed that it would be there next Wednesday), so I set to drive to the store in a terrible blizzard and it took me 40 minute of spooky drive to cover the 7 miles (11 km) distance that normally take 15 minutes to find out that the part I needed wasn’t available. 

Back home, I discovered that a Salt Lake City HVAC supply store might have the Flame Sensor and I almost resigned myself to surviving till Monday when the store would open at 7 am today. I returned to the furnace, tried a few more maneuvers to no avail and even though the fireplace was on, my wife and I went back to sleep in a cold house that would be even colder in the morning with 17 degree (-8 C) outside… 

Around 4:45am, on Sunday morning I got out bed and remembered that I had a spare Flame sensor with a rod that was too long to fit in my furnace compartment and I thought of reducing its length from 3.5” (90 mm) down to 2” (50 mm) so it would fit, without really understanding how that stainless steel rod worked inside the burner (it actually converts AC into DC). 

So I took my hacksaw, cut the rod to dimension, deburred correctly and installed it and… Voilà! It worked perfectly, and immediately my heating system was back in working order. I brewed some coffee while my wife congratulated me, and then it was time to go out and clear all the snow that had accumulated the day before in my driveway!