You current furnace has another 5-10 years of life in my opinion. What model is it? It would be a shame to junk if it is a 2-stage high efficiency model.

So what you are saying is the big York dealer who sold you the furnace and has maintained it every year does not know how to fix it? I would give them another chance, but this time have them send an experienced tech who knows what they are doing.

If that doesn't work then you should consider having another York dealer look at it.

The quote you received is high. I assume this is because you are in Westchester county.

Thanks for your reply MIke. The York is a model number PIXUC20V0950ID. I hear you about being in Westchester and the prices. I'll call my York dealer again and talk to the service manager. Unfortunately they're the only York dealer in Westchester. The next closest dealer is about 40 minutes away in Orange county.

The tech who looked at it the first time told me that the burner had some rust and corrosion and that was one reason why it didn't make sense to do a major repair on the unit. I looked at the burner with him. It didn't look new but it didn't look heavily corroded or rusted to me. This particular tech hates the high efficiency units and tells me every time he works on the unit that I'm lucky I haven't had any major problems with it and not to expect it to last much longer.

I wonder if that attitude is because he doesn't like working on them or because he just remembers the ones that fail. I'll post an update when I have more info.

I finally heard back from my York dealer. The tech who came out now thinks that it's most likely the flame sensor. Since that's a cheap part and not a lot of labor to swap I'm going to have them change it out and see if that fixes it.

I just spoke with the service manager to find out when the flame sensor was due in and to ask about why the tech couldn't get the error code. The flame sensor is due in on Monday. He said that the reason the tech couldn't get an error code is because when my furnace was made in 2004 York wasn't including circuit boards that captured error codes the way the more recent models do. He has a call into York to see if they think it makes sense to swap the circuit board at the same time so that if it isn't the flame sensor we at least have an error code to work with.

If I'm going to try to get another 5-10 years out of the unit that would also be nice to have to identify the next component failure.

Do you think he's blowing sunshine about the board that's in there now not being able to show the error code? Is there anyone one of you York dealers can use the model number I listed to look that up?

Thanks in advance.

I believe your furnace is the York P1XU series. I found the service manual. It has a trouble shooting section which explains the control board diagnostics. It is a simple flashing LED. You have to count the number of flashes and then look up what are the possible causes. The tech either has to have the document with him or have the codes memorized to figure out what is going on.

Newer furnaces may display and retain a fixed number to indicate the possible problem. I have no idea if a new generation control board could be installed in your furnace. There are 8 possible LED flash codes. You could print page 8 of the manual and see if you can figure it out yourself. Then have the tech come back and show him how it works. There is a list of items to check associated with each code.

That's the unit. The model number starts with a P1, not a PI as I wrote above. The link you included got messed up when it posted but I found the website and the file. I'll take a look at the unit tonight and save the manual. Do you have any idea it this type of older control board would flash the error just when it was happening or would it display the last error code?

Thanks very much. This is very helpful.

I am not sure. I would think the error code would flash until the furnace makes another attempt to start up. Try it a few times and see what happens. You will probably get to the point where you will know how to trouble shoot better than the York tech :).

Possibly. I'm certainly learning. Here's a picture of the board - no flashing red LED. The only red light I could see was way up on the top right of the board. This is the main control board, right? It's in the bottom compartment in front of the blower motor.

There's a small green LED near the top left of the board. That started flashing intermittently when I closed the switch that tells the unit that the front panel is in place.

I'll cycle the furnace a few times and see if I can get an error light.

I think the green LED is the speed indicator for blower motor.

The LED you want is hidden behind the wires on the right. I found a photo of the control module that allows you to see the LED.

I believe the red LED in the lower right corner is the want you want to observe. The diagnostic indicator codes are printed right on the module above. If you carefully move the wires out of the way you should be able to see the LED.

I found the LED on the board, thanks. It was in the 40's here this morning so I set the stat to call for heat and the furnace started up and ran fine until the temperature matched the set point.

* shakes head *

You have an intermittent problem. The next time it happens check the flashing code on the board. Hopefully it will point you and the tech in the right direction.

Here''s an update for anyone following the thread. The furnace has continued to run flawlessly since I posted on April 24, and it's still getting cold enough overnight that we need heat first thing in the morning. I am starting to wonder if I had some condensation or other contamination in the propane supply that just took a while to work through.

I called the same HVAC company to schedule the ICL for my York Stealth central AC. I asked for a different tech, since the first one seemed to really dislike my high efficiency furnace. So another tech came out, did the work on the AC and then we looked at the furnace together. The York Stealth (also 12 years old) needed 2 pounds of R22 but was otherwise fine. He advised against doing any repairs or parts replacement on the furnace at this time. He looked at the burner and said that is was fairly corroded, and that this might explain the problems, as the corrosion can hinder the free flow of gas across the burner. The first tech had told me that if the burner needed to be replaced it was time to junk the furnace. This tech told me that replacing the burner on this furnace was easy and that it's not an expensive replacement part. He also told me that this was a good, high end unit for York and that there's no reason why I shouldn't get 20 years of service out of it, particularly since I had been maintaining it well and using a 4 inch pleated media filter.

So that's where it stands. When I call to schedule the annual furnace ICL this fall they'll give me a price to swap the burner at the same time and I can decide then if I want to do it or not.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I'm glad I listened to you guys instead of the first tech and didn't blow all that money on the Carrier. I'm going to spend it on having the house painted instead, which will make my wife very happy.