White-Rodgers 50A55-743 Control Board

Update: Board burned out within 4 days. Contacting Amazon about a return. HVAC guy on his way to my house. With cold weather rolling in, of course we turned on our heat for the first time this year. After a couple of days, I noticed that the air coming from the vents didn't feel particularly warm, and the temperature wasn't increasing in the house. Thanks to some quick youtube videos and a few minutes with a flashlight and screwdriver in the attic, I was able to find that the Pressure Sensor Switch was showing as not closing. I took off the sensor, cleaned it, and checked it with a multimeter... working fine. Reattached it to my furnace, still throwing the code (3 blinks). I traced the wires and wiggled them a bit, thinking maybe if there was a broken wire, that would show an open switch. After wiggling the cables, the furnace ignited and all was well. Or... so I thought. The house warmed up, the furnace turned off... and hours later the air comes back on blowing room temp (not hot). Back up to the attic. Wiggled the cables again and noticed that the point where the wiring harness plugged into the control board seemed to be the place the cables are loose. Tossed a few Zip Ties around the board to hold the wire harness on tight and that did the trick for a few days. After that, the vibrations of the, ya know, giant box of fire and spinning death blades managed to wiggle the Zip-ties a little loose. After 3 days of going up to the attic to manually light the furnace every time we wanted to warm up.. I had a decision. I could call the HVAC company to send a tech out... or I could buy a new controller and swap it myself. I looked up the price of a new control board from an HVAC supplier... anywhere from $80-200 plus the cost of a service tech coming out to swap the board. Weighed that against buying this universal board from Amazon... for $45. Since $45 <<<<< $400+, I figured it was worth rolling the dice. When the board came in (a day earlier than expected, btw) I ran up and spent 10 mins taking out the old board, taking photos/notes of where the wires were all connected, installing the new board, and connecting everything back up. Phoned the wife downstairs and asked her to switch the thermostat on... 30 seconds later the furnace was burning brightly. Bolted the door back on and went downstairs. 3 days later, house is still nice and warm. :) All that said, $45 for this control board saved me probably $400 in service calls and overpriced replacement parts, all for a quick 15 minute fix. Thanks Amazon and YouTube!

To preface, a week ago I had very little knowledge of how a furnace really worked. So it finally got cold this fall and I turned on the furnace for the first time a few days ago. Crap, no heat. After checking the furnace, I got a couple different errors. First, I was getting 3 blinks, pressure switch open error. The inducer motor would come on but the igniter would not get hot and obviously no flame. After watching a few youtube videos on how to diagnose common furnace issues I was able to get a good grasp on what to test. Testing the pressure switch was easy. All you need to do is put your voltmeter in continuity mode and place the leads on it. There should be no continuity when the inducer motor is off. Once the inducer motor comes on and causes the draft then the change in pressure will close the pressure switch and cause voltmeter to beep if it's in working order. My inducer motor was starting and closing the pressure switch reliably yet I was getting the pressure switch open error. Hence I knew most likely the board was bad. After more testing, a 2nd error I was getting was a continuous single flashing light. This time, the inducer motor would come on and the hot surface igniter would glow bright but no click of gas valve and again no flame. This rules out the igniter as a problem. It also effectively ruled out a pressure switch being the issue since the igniter would not come on without the pressure switch closing. Could it be a gas valve issue? Possibly, but from I've read they rarely fail. The way to help diagnose the gas valve is to test for voltage to the gas valve. You should get 24V to the gas valve for it to open. If the hot surface igniter comes on and you get voltage to the valve but no flame, then the valve is bad. If you don't get voltage, the board is likely bad. I had 0V to my gas valve indicating a board problem as I suspected. I ordered this board and received it two days later just as a cold front was arriving, replacing a 50A55-289 board which is no longer sold. The board layout was the exact same and it was an easy 15 minute swap. Firing up the furnace for first time was nerve wracking but after 20 seconds or so, everything fired up perfectly. I had just saved myself about $500 for a few hours of research/diagnostics/labor and a lifetime of knowledge. I'll likely pick another one for backup since they apparently fail often.

Replaced failing OEM White Rodgers 50A55-289 on Goodman Single Stage Furnace. Furnace was going into soft lock out, control board solved issue. Identical physical/electrical/controls installation, furnace cycles thru stages as per design.

Good price better than from tech who wanted 400 for one.

I was told that the controller board for my furnace had been discontinued, however, I suspect that they were more interested in selling me a new furnace. This board was a direct replacement for my old control board. This is not a repair for your average homeowner.

The product is very well priced, it is a newer model and very easy to install. Can not ask for anything better. Thank you you saved the day and my pocket.

PCB looks better finished then the previous replacement unit.