Loose wire on furnace

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I spent the weekend at my brother's ranch a couple weeks ago. I was going to work on a project in a cabin on the property but while the pilot light was on the furnace would not come on. I found one loose wire and have no idea where it fell off. There are a few screws on the unit that have wires attached in a slipshod way. The wire that is loose is one of a pair that comes from up high and I can't see where they are going. Does anybody know where this wire is supposed to be hooked up? I marked the wire end with an X. I am driving up there tonight and hope to get the furnace going. It's a little chilly up there.

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I really think you're going to have to trace this wire even if it's hard!
 
I'd probably clean that off, look up the model on the internet and see what wires there are..

I'm not a furnace repairman, but you need power and then some thermostat wires.

it might even be a ground
 
Agree that you need to look up the model and get the correct wiring. Just looking at all the connections I marked what appears like a connector that wire could have popped out of.

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What you have there is a self generating or powerpile gas burner control. The wire marked in red is one side of the thermostat conductor. It more than likley passes through a limit switch. The yellow marked wire provides power to the pilot safety. The powerpile genrerates 400 to 600 milivolts of DC power which requires solid connections. There should be a wiring diagram on the unit but I can`t stress enough you should have this heater cleaned and serviced professionally, .
 
Yes you have millivolt control. The red and white wires in the armored cable come from the powerpile generator in the pilot light. Connecting the two outside terminals on the gas valve together will light the main burner. This is done through a series connection of the wall thermostat and limit switch.

I think the black wire going off to the left is one of the limit switch wires, the other one likely should connect to that loose thermostat wire.

If you don't know what a limit switch is and why it's important and how to wire it, definitely get a professional.
 
There's no wiring diagram on this antique beauty. It's difficult to get a repair guy to visit out here in the boonies. I found where the wire is supposed to go. It goes to the same post where the white wire is attached. Actually, the white wire had also fallen off. I soldered an eye connector to the wire ends instead of just wrapping the wire ends around the screw, which is the OE attachment method. It works fine now. I also sucked out all the dirt and dust with a shop vac. Brother has been saying he'd replace the furnace - for years.
 
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