N/A Word to the Wise

[markb5900]

Had a minor motor problem with our furnace.
Get the tech out here this morning to get a new one installed. She figures out that yes the motor is bad, doesn't have one in the truck, will be here tomorrow.
Does their normal "inspection" since they are here.
She looks down the burners and she can see a large crack in the heat exchanger. Shows it to me, but to make sure she goes out and gets her "snake camera" so we can see it up close.
Sure enough, about 1/16" wide and about 3" long.
She looks at me and tells me, my family and I are in the lucky to be alive category since that crack was letting CO into the house whenever the burner was lit.
She next tells me that she has to "condemn" my furnace, it is not safe to use and I have to get a new one.
She readily says, get 3 or 4 estimates before you buy and asks if I want her company to quote it or not?

Not FOR SURE if it is as "dire" as she made it seem, but I can say I would have NEVER found it on my own so spend 75 bucks and have someone that knows what they are doing check out your furnace.
BTW this one is 15 years old, not ancient but it DID surprise me.

Mark B

 

[SCCutler]

Mark, a crack in the heat exchanger will readily admit CO (*NOT* CO2), which is indeed a silent killer.

Assuming all is as you describe, that broken motor may well have saved your skins.

You might use this as an opportunity to buy and install a CO Detectorl they are readily available at your local hardware or Mega Home Store.

 

[markb5900]

Sorry, need to know my elements better.
Will fix the original post.

And yes, we are getting CO detectors.

Mark B

 

[mikea]

Say thank you and buy the new furnace from another company.


...see if the situation suddenly becomes less dire.

 

[Richard]

Boy how times have changed.

These days a FA can get the Capt pregnant.

And a girl shows a guy how to fix his furnace.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

Had a minor motor problem with our furnace.
Get the tech out here this morning to get a new one installed. She figures out that yes the motor is bad, doesn't have one in the truck, will be here tomorrow.
Does their normal "inspection" since they are here.
She looks down the burners and she can see a large crack in the heat exchanger. Shows it to me, but to make sure she goes out and gets her "snake camera" so we can see it up close.
Sure enough, about 1/16" wide and about 3" long.
She looks at me and tells me, my family and I are in the lucky to be alive category since that crack was letting CO into the house whenever the burner was lit.
She next tells me that she has to "condemn" my furnace, it is not safe to use and I have to get a new one.
She readily says, get 3 or 4 estimates before you buy and asks if I want her company to quote it or not?

Not FOR SURE if it is as "dire" as she made it seem, but I can say I would have NEVER found it on my own so spend 75 bucks and have someone that knows what they are doing check out your furnace.
BTW this one is 15 years old, not ancient but it DID surprise me.

Mark B

First, if your burner is properly adjusted and clean, it should mostly make CO2 and not much CO. But...

Second, if everything else is working properly, the fan blower should keep the pressure on the "house side" of the heat exchanger higher than the burner side so the leak will be into the burner and not out into the house. But if your blower fails...

Third, this crack has been there for a while and you haven't died so far. But...

The crack is one link in a chain of events that could have a less than desireable outcome - think about your training in A.D.M....

Fourth, do shop around. The "I found a crack and you are going to die if you don't buy a furnace from me right now" is a common way to panic people into paying way more than they need to for a furnace (not that I can say this is the case for this particular repair person).

 

[bbchien]

We replaced ours in August. This really really hard winter, we're thankful we did. It's a superefficient deal with a PVC pipe for an outlet.

Bills are really low.