I always try to carry the few different styles, but glow sticks will work in a pinch. It's very rare I have to replace a flame sensor so I don't worry about that, never heard of a universal one myself, I'm sure it's because of the variation of size and shape.

 

I have found the Honeywell 'Glowfly' to be the best ALL-AROUND universal ignitor. It is a single bar ignitor and i've found it to be very reliable. There has only been a couple of occasions where this ignitor has not worked and in those cases, an OEM ignitor was the only thing that would work. I carry just a few specific ignitors and a hand full of 'Glowfly's'.

 

X2

 

Glowfly. Never had a reason to replace a flame rod.

 

Really, no reason to replace ? Its been recommended to replace rather than clean the flame sensor once it gets carboned up.

 

Glowfly are good come in a six pack box I think never had a prob

 

ok thanks Im gonna get a few of those glowflys

 

I have used sand cloth for the last 15yrs. Some people say it puts a coating on it but I feel that is a myth,,, steel wool or a stainless brush also works well. Of the thousands of flame sensors I have cleaned,, probably the Armstrong stick flame sensor that slides into a thermocouple mount is the only one that I have to replace on occasion.

 

Dollar bill works just fine for me.

 

I agree with jpb. I have had great luck cleaning them. I clean every one when I'm doing tune ups. Also clean them when it's the cause of a no heat call. I never get call backs on that. If I did, I'd definitely start replacing. I hate callbacks.

 

I use steel wool to clean Flame rods and have never had to replace one. I also clean them on every PM.

 

I appreciate the experienced advice. I will only keep a couple of these on my truck

 

Glowfly. I also have only a couple flame rods in stock. They are a couple years old and I work in natural gas heat country. I clean a lot of rods, gently. I did have a customer watch me remove the carbon. He tried it on his sisters unit at christmas. Except he tried removing the "carbon" off the HSI, not the rod. Oops. Sold her a glowfly as replacement and cleaned the rod.