PF100 Igniter failures

[ex-oil slave]

How many PF100 or PB105 owners have had igniter failures? For the PB105 owners this does not include the pressure igniter system. I'm talking about the igniter under the burn pot type ignition system. I'm just winding down my second winter heating season and have just had my second igniter failure. The first winter 2008-2009, the igniter failed right around this time of year as well. I'm thinking that as the temps moderate, the furnace shuts completely down between calls for heat. This requires the furnace to do a cold restart several (or more) times a day as opposed to winter operation where it hardly ever shuts down. These repeated restarts seem to be killing my igniters. Are any other owners experiencing this?

 

[MSmith66]

I service harman stoves in my area and there are some stoves that need ignitors this time on the season for the same reasons you have mentioned. You are correct, this time of the season when your ignitor is working more to keep up with the high /low of the temp. , they do burn out. Harman has a new ignitor with 15 fins that is doing a better job than the 13 fin old type ignitor.

 

[Centurion]

This will be the first summer that I will be running my boiler for DHW. I just replaced the igniter so it will be interesting to see how long it will last. I take a shower every morning and it typically fires up during or slightly after I'm done. During the warm spell we had a couple of weeks ago I was delighted that it was averaging about 1/4 bag per day for DHW for my wife and I, laundry, dishes and all. For the 5 months of summer it should use somewhere around 38 bags or so. I don't want to wish my summer away but it will be interesting to see how much I end up using.