Patent ID: 8839815

Claim:
A fuel valve assembly for controlling fuel flow to a combustion appliance, the fuel valve assembly comprising: a valve body having an inlet port and an outlet port, with a fluid path extending between the inlet port and the outlet port; a fuel valve member situated in the fluid path between the inlet port and the outlet port; a fuel valve actuator for selectively moving the fuel valve member between a closed position, which closes the fluid path between the inlet port and the outlet port, and an open position; the fuel valve actuator actuating the fuel valve member from the closed position to the open position and then back to the closed position during each of a plurality of operational cycles during a lifetime of the fuel valve assembly; an electronic controller secured within an electronics compartment coupled to or formed integrally with the valve body, the electronic controller having a non-volatile memory; wherein the electronic controller maintains in the non-volatile memory a measure that is indicative of the total number of operational cycles experienced by the fuel valve member during the lifetime of the fuel valve assembly; and wherein the non-volatile memory stores a threshold number of operational cycles, and the electronic controller is configured to compare the total number of operational cycles to the threshold number of operational cycles.