How do you fix Goodman flashes?

This is technician work on the control board and ignition circuit. Ask for ground connections to the furnace chassis to be checked and tightened before the board is replaced, particularly the blower motor ground and the low voltage common ground. Full steps and safety notes are on this page.

Goodman furnace 12 red flashes: Ignitor relay failure

Twelve red flashes indicates a failure of the ignitor relay on the control board. Goodman's own service bulletin on the equivalent fault notes that grounding is a common cause in the field.

Applies to: Goodman GMEC96 and Amana AMEC96 two-stage gas furnaces with a three-colour diagnostic LED.

What it means

The ignitor relay is the switch on the control board that energises the hot surface ignitor. A relay failure means the control cannot reliably power the ignitor, so the furnace cannot light. What makes this code worth reading alongside Goodman's service literature is the company's own field guidance on the equivalent eight-flash fault on other model families: while the nominal cause is an ignitor relay fault or a shorted ignitor, field reports linked it most often to an open or insufficient furnace ground. Grounding is therefore worth checking before a board is condemned.

Most common causes

A failed ignitor relay on the control board.
An open or insufficient furnace ground, which Goodman associates with the equivalent fault on other models.
A loose blower motor ground or low voltage common ground.
A shorted hot surface ignitor drawing more current than the relay can handle.
Damaged ignitor wiring shorting to the cabinet.
A control board approaching failure.

How to diagnose it

Note whether the ignitor glows at all during a start attempt, if the furnace has a sight glass.
Mention any recent electrical work, control board replacement, or blower motor replacement to the technician, since each disturbs a ground.
Note whether other faults have appeared alongside it, since grounding problems produce several codes at once.
Confirm the count is twelve and the colour is red, since this is at the long end of the code set and easy to miscount.

How to fix it

This is technician work on the control board and ignition circuit.
Ask for ground connections to the furnace chassis to be checked and tightened before the board is replaced, particularly the blower motor ground and the low voltage common ground.
After grounds are secured, powering the furnace off for about ten seconds and back on clears stored codes, which is Goodman's documented procedure on the related fault.
If the code returns with grounding confirmed good, the board is replaced.

Notes

Goodman's bulletin SF-024 documents that on some H-model furnaces the equivalent code was missing from the wiring labels and service manuals entirely, and that grounding rather than the ignitor was the most commonly reported real cause. That guidance is worth carrying into any ignitor relay diagnosis on Goodman equipment.

All codes for this manufacturer

Goodman and Amana furnace fault codes — every code, with what differs between models.

Not sure this is your brand?

The same count means something else on other furnaces. What 12 flashes means on every brand puts them side by side.

Models this code appears on

From the manufacturer's per-model database. If your model is not listed, this code may not exist on your board, or it may mean something different — check the model page.

Goodman GMEC96 and Amana AMEC96

How other brands split this fault

This board keeps the ignitor relay fault separate, which not every Goodman control does: the legacy single-LED boards fold a failed igniter and a bad ground into one code — eight flashes — because the control cannot tell them apart, a conflation the service bulletin cited above exists to explain. Brands that separate the fault the way this board does include Lennox with alert 207, HSI sensed open, York with twelve red flashes for an open hot surface igniter, and Trane with E63. The igniter code hub maps which families conflate and which separate.

What the fix costs

Three different bills hide behind this one code, and the order of checking matters. If the field-common cause from the service bulletin — grounding — is the culprit, the fix is wiring labour on a $75–150 diagnostic with no major part at all. If the hot surface ignitor itself has failed or shorted, the ignitor cost guide puts the job at $150–350 installed for a $20–120 part. Only if the relay on the control board has genuinely failed does this become board money at $400–900. A quote that starts at the board without ruling out the first two is running the checklist backwards — the cheap causes are also the common ones here.

DIY or call a pro?

Professional, because the whole difficulty of this code is telling three faults apart, and that is meter work: ignitor resistance, relay output, and ground integrity are each a measurement, not an observation. The homeowner's leverage is knowing the checking order and asking for it — ground first, ignitor second, board last — which is precisely the sequence the cited bulletin's field experience supports. History helps too: a furnace that showed grounding or flame-sense warnings before this code strengthens the wiring theory, and recent electrical work anywhere in the house strengthens it further. Say so when booking.

What this looks like

From the outside, this usually shows up as the furnace turns over but never lights — that walkthrough covers what to check in order, and when it stops being a homeowner job.

Sources

This site is a reference, not a substitute for a licensed HVAC technician. Gas appliances can leak carbon monoxide and cause fire. Anything involving gas lines, the heat exchanger, or the flame sensing circuit should be handled by a licensed professional. Pages are written with AI assistance from the sources listed on each page and checked against them before publishing.