How Your Gas Furnace Works

...no need to worry, it's safer than you think!

Your new Trane furnace creates heat by burning fuel (gas or propane). Upon a call for heat from your thermostat, your power vent motor will energize and prep the combustion area for ignition by inducing a draft through the flue pipe system. Following this, your Silicon Carbide Hot Surface Igniter (aka - "pilot light") will glow bright orange for approximately 20-30 seconds, at which point the gas valve will open and send the fuel to the combustion area and the active ignitor. The fuel will ignite and generate a nice blue flame.

When the fuel burns, it generates hot gasses which travel through curved metal tubing called a heat exchanger. Following a predetermined time limit encoded in the furnace control board, the indoor blower motor will energize, thus pulling the cooler air from inside the house through the system to be heated. As this cooler air passes over the heat exchanger, it absorbs heat from the hot metal surface. The heated air is then circulated throughout your duct system to warm your home.

Meanwhile, the gasses that are created by the burning fuel are released outside through a plastic vent pipe. This furnace is so efficient, you will only lose about 10% of your energy out the flue pipe, which is so much better than most furnaces out there today. And because of the little amount of heat that is released through the flue pipe, these gases will cool rapidly the further away from the system they get, thus creating condensation. These furnaces are commonly referred to as "condensing furnaces" for this reason. This condensation is then channeled away from the unit through an intricate piping system or pump. When your thermostat is satisfied, the furnace will then ramp down, awaiting your next call for heat.

Your furnace is equipped with a control board. This is the place in your furnace where the control wiring from your thermostat and the power wiring from the breaker meet. This control board allows for the above operation to work flawlessly. But, what you don't know is that it does this, as well as provide you the security that your system is running safely. There are numerous safety devices and switches built in to your furnace, and the control board is constantly monitoring these safeties to insure that the system operates safely. If at any time during the start-up of the system, or during its operation, that any of these safety devices "trip", then the control board automatically turns the gas valve off to insure your health and safety, but also so that the unit does not sustain any further damage.

So, here is your new Trane Gas Furnace. I trust that you both will have a long and warm relationship.

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