Goodman Furnace Error Codes: The Official Chart and How to Read Yours

The short version

There is no single Goodman flash-code chart. Goodman has shipped at least three different diagnostic systems, and the one on your furnace depends on the model and the age of the board.
Most Goodman boards in service display a two or three character code such as E E 1, not a number of blinks. The table below is transcribed from Goodman’s own service manual.
The one counted flash pattern Goodman documents for single-stage 80 percent furnaces is six flashes, which means the flame rollout switch has tripped. On some models it also means an open control board fuse.
Goodman’s manual contradicts itself on two codes. Eb and EC are each described one way in the error code pages and the opposite way in the summary table.
A tripped rollout switch, a code for flame detected with the gas valve closed, or any smell of gas is a stop-and-call, not a troubleshooting exercise.

Your furnace probably does not use flash counts

Search for a Goodman flash code chart and you will find a dozen pages confidently listing one flash as ignition failure, two as a pressure switch, three as a pressure switch the other way round. Those pages disagree with each other, and more importantly they disagree with Goodman.

Goodman has shipped several different diagnostic systems. Older and simpler boards blink a diagnostic light. Current single-stage 80 percent furnaces display alphanumeric error codes. The modulating 96 percent furnaces use a seven-segment display and hold a fault history you can scroll back through. A chart that gives one meaning to one blink cannot be right for all three.

The authority is the legend printed on the label inside your furnace’s access panel, next to the control board. That label is specific to your model. Everything below is what Goodman publishes, and your label wins if the two ever disagree.

The official Goodman error code table

This is transcribed from the error code status table in Goodman’s own service and troubleshooting manual for 80 percent gas furnaces. Codes read left to right across the display.

Goodman furnace error codes and what each one means

Display	What Goodman says it means
E E E	Internal faults or IRQ loss
E E 0	Lockout due to excessive ignition retries (three) and recycle
E E 1	Pressure switch stuck closed
E E 2	Pressure switch open
E E 3	Open high limit switch
E E 4	Flame detected when no flame should be present
E E 5	Open fuse
E E 6	Low flame signal
E E L	Ignitor relay fault
E E A	Reversed line polarity or grounding error
E E b	Internal gas valve error
E E C	External gas valve error
E E n	Ignitor open
E E J	Inducer relay error
E E H	Twin error
E 1 1	Open rollout switch
E b L	Low circulator current
E b U	Circulator current unexpected
E A F	A2L refrigerant communication alarm
E A L	A2L refrigerant leakage alarm
E A S	A2L internal alarm
E A r	A2L relay alarm

Transcribed from Goodman service and troubleshooting manual RS6621301. Read the codes left to right. Your model's own label is the authority.

Goodman publishes the full manual as a PDF, and it is worth having open if you are standing in front of the furnace: Goodman service and troubleshooting, 80 percent gas furnaces.

Where Goodman’s own manual contradicts itself

The one flash count Goodman documents

On single-stage 80 percent furnaces, Goodman states that the ignition control diagnostic light flashes six times to indicate a trip of the flame rollout switch, and notes that on some models this also indicates an open control board fuse.

A rollout switch opens because flame came out of the burner compartment where it should not. Goodman lists over-firing and flame impingement on the heat shield as causes. That is a combustion fault, not a reset-it-and-see fault.

What you can safely check before you call

A real fraction of furnace faults are airflow, and airflow is the one part of this a homeowner can address without tools or risk.

Replace the air filter if it is grey. An open high limit switch, code E E 3, is very often a furnace overheating behind a blocked filter.
Open every supply register and clear anything stacked against a return. A new high-efficiency blower pushed against a restricted return runs hot and loud.
Check the thermostat is calling for heat and its batteries are good. The furnace will report nothing at all if nothing asked it to run.
Look at the furnace switch on the wall or the side of the cabinet, and the breaker. Both get switched off during other work and not switched back.
Write down the code before you reset anything. Cycling power clears it, and the code is the most useful thing you can hand a technician.

Getting it fixed

We cover Goodman and Amana along with everything else, and the same licensed team handles the furnace, the gas piping and the electrical circuit, so no part of the job waits on a second contractor. Start with furnace repair if the unit is worth repairing, or furnace installation if the code is the latest in a run of them.

If the pattern is annual and getting worse, HVAC maintenance is what breaks it. Most of the codes above come from a dirty flame sensor, a blocked condensate drain or a restricted filter, and all three are on the maintenance checklist.

We are across New Hampshire, southern Maine and New Jersey. Our largest New Hampshire coverage runs out of Manchester and Dover.

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