What do I do when my furnace shows that blinking red light and the flame goes on and off?
Answers:
if the flame goes on for less than 5 seconds then shuts off its the flame senser.
Other answers:
Call someone. It is difficult to fix if you don't know something about what you're doing. I promise. You should give a little more information, and I might be able to help you. For instance, are you referring to the pilot light, or the blue burner flame? Does it even have a pilot light, or is it the new kind that you can hear it sparking and lights itself? It apparently is the new kind, because of the blinking indicator light. Problem is, the new ones are electronic and have a small IC board.
If you have a pilot light, the small flame lights a rod, which [when hot] completes a curcuit that opens the valve supplying gas to your burner. If that rod goes bad, It may not work properly. If you can find it and pull it out, take it to a hardware store, tell them as much information as you can about your furnace and they'll either tell you what to do, or they'll give you a match up rod. (pretty cheap).
If it is the electronic one, there are a number of things that could be wrong. Your board could be bad, your valve may need to be rebuilt (expensive models) or replaced (cheap models), or your thermostat could be screwed if it is the electronic kind. Most likely, though, your board is bad, and your best bet is to call someone to take a look at it and determine the cause. It's very dificult to say what's exactly wrong without testing it and seeing the problem with my own eyes.
Good luck, I hope this works out to be inexpensive.
Call someone. It is difficult to fix if you don't know something about what you're doing. I promise. You should give a little more information, and I might be able to help you. For instance, are you referring to the pilot light, or the blue burner flame? Does it even have a pilot light, or is it the new kind that you can hear it sparking and lights itself? It apparently is the new kind, because of the blinking indicator light. Problem is, the new ones are electronic and have a small IC board.
If you have a pilot light, the small flame lights a rod, which [when hot] completes a curcuit that opens the valve supplying gas to your burner. If that rod goes bad, It may not work properly. If you can find it and pull it out, take it to a hardware store, tell them as much information as you can about your furnace and they'll either tell you what to do, or they'll give you a match up rod. (pretty cheap).
If it is the electronic one, there are a number of things that could be wrong. Your board could be bad, your valve may need to be rebuilt (expensive models) or replaced (cheap models), or your thermostat could be screwed if it is the electronic kind. Most likely, though, your board is bad, and your best bet is to call someone to take a look at it and determine the cause. It's very dificult to say what's exactly wrong without testing it and seeing the problem with my own eyes.
Good luck, I hope this works out to be inexpensive.