[HardcoreZ28]

I'm having a problem with the heater in my workshop that I could use some troubleshooting advice on. It's a natural gas heater...no idea size or any other specs. It's a large unit suspended from the ceiling and vented out through the roof of the shop. For the past few weeks it's been having problems lighting. When I first turn it on it'll light right up....it's on a thermostat so it cycles on and off. After the initial heating cycle the next time it tries to light again you hear the gas start flowing but there's a long delay before it ignites and I've been getting progressively bigger pops. Tonight it was so violent that I decided to shut it off until I can fix it. There's too much gas building up in there before ignition.

At first I thought all the sanding dust from the shop might be effecting it but really there's a large fan that passes air through it that should keep it pretty clean. Is it possibly the ignitor eventhough it fires up immediately the first time it's turned on?

I'm assuming the ignitor is easy to replace if that's the problem right? Just turn the gas off at the valve, disconnect the wires and remove and replace?

Any tips/suggestions/etc welcome.