Start with the trap, because it is a real one: 3 flashes on a Goodman does not have one meaning. On the current two-stage 96% furnaces (GMEC96 and family), the red LED's 3-flash code is a low-fire pressure switch stuck open. On the older single-LED control in Goodman's PG-series instructions, 3 flashes is a pressure switch stuck closed. Opposite switch states, same blink count, same brand. Any chart that gives you one Goodman table without naming the board is guessing with your furnace.
Below are the two charts, kept separate on purpose. Find your board first — the newer furnaces show a green/amber/red LED trio and stage codes; the older control has a single diagnostic LED — then read its chart. Amana furnaces are covered by the same Goodman manuals and use the same boards.
The two rules that outrank everything on this page.
1. Smell gas? Stop reading. Leave the house and call your gas utility or 911 from outside. No code is worth diagnosing through a gas smell.
2. Never bypass a safety switch — no jumping a pressure switch, no taping a limit, no propping a rollout. Those switches are the only thing between a furnace fault and a fire or carbon-monoxide problem. This library explains codes; it does not teach repairs inside the cabinet.
Which chart is yours?
Look at the control board through the blower-door window. Three LEDs (green, amber, red) and a two-stage furnace (model starts GMEC/GCEC, 96% AFUE): use the first chart — faults are red flashes, flame-signal warnings are amber. One diagnostic LED on an older single-stage unit: use the second chart. If neither description matches, your board is newer than this library’s sources — the chart inside the door is your reference.
Red-LED chart — two-stage 96% furnaces
GMEC96 / GCEC96 and their Amana twins — the current two-stage condensing furnaces with a green/amber/red LED trio on the board.
| What you see | What the manual says it means |
|---|---|
| 1 red flash | Flame sensed when no flame should be present — The manual points at a gas valve stuck open, wiring faults at the valve, or a shorted flame rod. This is a gas code, not a reset code. Full page → |
| 2 red flashes | Pressure switch stuck closed — The board checks that this switch is open before the inducer starts. If it reads closed, it will not even try. Faulty switch, shorted switch wires, or a stuck inducer relay, per the manual. Full page → |
| 3 red flashes | Low-fire pressure switch stuck open — The inducer ran but the low-stage pressure switch never closed — the vent could not pull enough vacuum. The manual lists a faulty switch, bad tubing or wiring, a failed inducer relay, or a restricted/over-long vent run. Full page → |
| 3 double flashes | Second-stage pressure switch stuck open — Same idea, one stage up: the high-fire pressure switch never proved. Listed separately in the chart from the regular 3-flash code. |
| 4 red flashes | Open limit circuit — main limit, auxiliary limit, or rollout switch — The furnace got too hot somewhere, or the safety chain opened. The manual tells the tech to check temperature rise, duct static, and the wiring to every limit. For you, airflow is the lever. Full page → |
| 5 red flashes | Limit and rollout circuit open for 15 minutes — or an open control board fuse / rollout switch — This is the 4-flash problem that would not clear, escalated. By the time a board shows 5, it has been open a quarter of an hour. Full page → |
| 6 red flashes | Pressure switch cycling lockout — the switch opened 5 times in one heating cycle — The furnace lit, lost its draft proof, tried again — five times. The manual names excessive vent restriction and leaking pressure-switch tubing. Full page → |
| 7 red flashes | Lockout — excessive retries: flame was never proven during the trial for ignition — It tried to light, repeatedly, and never proved flame. Manual check list: gas pressure, gas valve, front-cover pressure switch, flame rod. Full page → |
| 8 red flashes | Lockout — excessive recycles: flame was proven, then lost, too many times — Different from 7: this furnace lights, then loses the flame mid-cycle until the board gives up for an hour. |
| 9 red flashes | Improper grounding or reversed polarity — The 115V hot and neutral are swapped, or the ground is wrong. The manual spells out the meter readings a tech should see. Wiring work. |
| 10 red flashes | Gas valve current detected with no call for heat — The board sees current at a valve that should be off. Manual: check for a short feeding the valve; if the wiring is right, the board is at fault. |
| 11 red flashes | Open limit switch circuit for more than 5 minutes — Another escalation code — a limit has been open long enough that the board wants a human. The manual says reset power and check indoor blower operation. |
| 12 red flashes | Igniter relay on the control board is not energizing the igniter — The manual is blunt: replace the control board. There is no field fix for a dead relay. |
| Red LED on solid | Control board internal fault — The manual’s fix is a new board. Confirm the furnace has clean power first, then call. |
| Red LED rapid flash | Twinning error — Only relevant on twinned (paired) furnace installs — the two boards are wired out of phase with each other. |
| Amber rapid flash | Low flame sense current — The amber LED covers flame signal: the manual blames a dirty or coated flame rod, poor flame, gas pressure, or the sense wire. A tech cleans the rod with steel wool — that is inside the burner compartment, so it is their job, not a doorstep fix. |
Source: Goodman GCEC960803BN Installation Instructions, Troubleshooting Chart, pp. 55-56. Read the document (fetched 2026-10-30).
Single-LED chart — older single-stage boards
The older single-diagnostic-LED control described in Goodman’s PG-series instructions — common on earlier single-stage furnaces and packaged units.
| What you see | What the manual says it means |
|---|---|
| LED off, furnace dead | Internal control failure — Per the manual: if the control faults internally it enters a hard lockout and turns its own diagnostic LED off. Check supply voltage, fuses, and breakers; kill power for five seconds; if the LED stays off with power restored, the manual says replace the control. |
| 1 flash | External lockout — no measurable combustion in 3 consecutive ignition attempts — The manual’s sequence: flame not established inside the 7-second trial, a 30-second purge, retry — three times, then lockout. It resets itself after one hour. |
| 2 flashes | Pressure switch stuck open — On THIS board, 2 flashes is the stuck-open code. Causes per the manual: faulty switch, faulty wiring, a disconnected or damaged hose, a blocked or restricted flue, or a faulty induced draft blower. |
| 3 flashes | Pressure switch stuck closed — Read this twice: on the older board, 3 flashes means stuck CLOSED — the opposite of the newer GMEC96 chart above. Which board you have decides which meaning you get. |
| 4 flashes | Open limit (thermal protection device open) — A limit opened and the gas valve shut instantly. The manual: a primary limit opens on excessive supply-air temperature — dirty filter, duct static, poor airflow. |
| 5 flashes | Flame detected with the gas valve closed — The board sees flame (or a flame signal) with the gas valve de-energized. The manual calls miswiring the probable cause. Gas code — treat it that way. |
| 1 amber flash | Low flame signal — The amber LED reports flame strength: a nearly invisible coating on the flame sensor insulates it and the signal sags. The unit keeps running until the control can no longer detect flame at all. |
Source: Goodman PG15 Installation Instructions, "Abnormal Operation - Heating". Read the document (fetched 2026-10-30).
One honesty note before the tables: codes change between control boards, sometimes inside the same brand and the same decade. Every table below names the board and the manual it was transcribed from. The chart glued inside your own blower door is the final word for your furnace — if it disagrees with this page, believe the door.
Questions
Why do Goodman charts online contradict each other?
Because Goodman changed boards. The GMEC96 chart and the older single-LED chart assign different meanings to 1, 2, 3 and 5 flashes. Most blogs copy one chart without saying which board it belongs to. Both charts here name their manual.
My Goodman shows E-codes on a display, not flashes.
Newer communicating Goodman/Amana systems (ComfortNet and display models) use two-character codes like E0 and EE2. Those display-code tables are not in this library yet — we only publish codes we have transcribed from the manufacturer document, and we have not sourced that table. Your door chart and manual have it.
Where these meanings come from
Transcribed 2026-10-30 from the manufacturers’ own documents — not from other blogs:
- Goodman GCEC960803BN Installation Instructions, Troubleshooting Chart, pp. 55-56 — read it
- Goodman PG15 Installation Instructions, "Abnormal Operation - Heating" — read it