gas furnace

My mother called and said her furnace quit and a repair man said it was shot, it is an old one but here is what I am not sure of. He said it had a large hole in heat exchanger, is this the part that you would get carbon monoxide from when running or would the fire box be the one to give off the deadly fumes... thanks Don c

Yes, definately. Replace that furnace now.

The heat exchanger seperates the flame and exhaust from the heateded air. If you have a hole in the heat exchanger you will get exhaust fumes in the house. Yes its time for a new furnace.

That is nothing to mess with. As stated the heat exchanger does seperates the products of combustion from your living space in most furnaaces.

Hi Don,

Yes, any heat exchanger with a hole in needs a new furnace. They don't sell just the new exchangers for the units.

The problem I have with your mom's report, is the "large hole" part. Most heat exchangers 99% of the time "crack" when they go bad, not get holes in them.

Knowing this makes me a little cautious on the diagnosing repairman unless it was a utility worker repairman as they don't install new furnaces and have no dog in the fight.

With a large hole, your mom should have been complaining about headaches and always having the "flu".

You might want to send out another repairman just to make sure she's not getting ripped for a new unit. You need more than one estimate for new new unit anyway.

T_Bone

How old is old? Gas or oil? Thermopride has a twenty year warranty on heat exchangers. Lot of others have a limited lifetime warranty to the original owner. DH

Boy I am a dumb*ss!!! Said gas furance in title.

Get your mom a carbon monoxide detector for Christmas.

Is the "exchanger" the same as the "fire ring"?

Allan

I'm with T-bone. I once had a furnace (rental unit) red tagged by an idiot that had nothing wrong with it. Some furnaces have a baffle in them that can be rusted out and not be a problem, and has nothing to do with leaking. If it is leaking, it is very dangerous-replace it.

When my gas furnace died a few years ago I decided to go with a high efficiency direct vent replacement. The guy said it should cut my gas bill by about 30% (old furnace was a very old hot water gravity feed system). I was skeptical about seeing that much savings, but darned if my gas bill didn't drop by about 30% after the new unit was installed. So if yo mother's furnace is more that about 20 years old it's probably worth replacing just for efficiency and reliability, if not now then next spring when you can probably get a better price.

As previously stated. If that furnace had a hole in the heat exchanger. Your Mother would have woke up dead weeks, months or years ago.
Sounds like a rusty baffle.
As for a replacement.............depends on who you ask. Some folks have more trouble with the high efficiency furnces that what they are worth. Shorter life span too.
May want to consider a medium efficieny unit.Saving $25-$75 a year on fuel is not worth the liability between the two.
What area of the country and does your Mom's house have central air? An air source heat pump maybe an option. Sometimes there are "energy rebates" for those to get off oil or gas heat.

Merry Christmas Allan,

Technically it's called the combustion chamber that is made up of several parts. The heat exchanger is the upper part of the combustion chamber and the burner plate in the lower part.

The burner is probably what there talking about that has failed but even so I have a problem with the repairman calling it a "heat exchanger". I don't like repair people who use buzz words to get people too react to a problem as the first thing that does for me is yell "rip off".

Very few residential combustion chamber parts are available. The burner not being one of them. If it was a commercial unit then it would be another call.

I too am not a fan of the 90% plus units. What you save in energy "can" be quickly spent in service calls. Depends on what kind of 100%warranty you can squeeze out of the mfg's makes the 90% units a buy.

T_Bone

I take that back, some of the newer stamped SM burners would be available, so be sure too call the mfg. too inquire.

T_Bone

My furnace heat exchanger had several holes the size of golf balls and I didn't die. The furnace was very efficient when the flames were going up the plenum. It was a 22 year old Bryant.

If your Mothers gas (either Natural or Propane) furnace has a large hole in the heat/combustion chamber and is not a baffle you will experience the following: Upon initial combustion prior to when the main air circulating fan comes on the flame should be mostly BLUE with a little bit of YELLOW on the flame Tips. It should be Steady and not flickering or blowing off of the jets. If not, have it Checked by a knowledgeable repair man. IF WHEN THE MAIN FAN BLOWER STARTS TO RUN AND CIRCULATES AIR THRU THE HOUSE THE FLAME TURNS MORE YELLOW OR FLICKERS "MORE" THEN YOU HAVE A SERIOUS COMBUSTION CHAMBER LEAK !!!. turn off and replace ASAP

Lowes sells furnaces now if you are up to it. Seems like about $800 for an 80,000 btu. Kinda depends upon if you can handle moving the air conditioner coil if it has one and any changes needed in the duct work from a different size unit. Different brands are different sizes and may require changing the return and out going duct work as well as the filter frame.

Most repairman won't fix old furnace and a/c's unless it is a thermocouple or valve or a small circuit board assuming they stock one. Better to sell a new one with a 100% markup plus labor and ductwork.

Its a no win situation for repairman, tell you a new one is needed but you opt for a $300 repair. Then a couple years later when the unit finally goes bad for good, the repairman gets blamed for a faulty repair or not stressing to you enough that you are throwing good money after bad when you repair it and don't replace it. Kinda like the decision you make when the engine blows on your 1985 Honda civic. Do you spend a few grand overhauling it or tow it to the junk yard?

Buy the carbon monoxide detector as a christmas no matter what if you care for her. Get the kind that are wired in so you have one in the furnace room and her bedroom. Then equip her house with smoke detectors wired together with one above the electrical panel, the basement rooms, the bedroom and any doorways and hallways between her and an exit. Then get her a weather alert radio. Easy Christmas and birthday shopping for the loved ones who have everything except the things that may save their lives.

As the others said, a hole in the combustion chamber is deadly. A rusted baffle or even a rusted housing not so bad but indicative of a furnace on its last leg. If she is rich, the decision is easy.

Good luck, let us know what you find out.

I would check with the manufacture. For instance on certain model of colman furnaces they warrenty the heat exchanger forever do to a flaw in some heat exchangers. If i come across one during a service call then I either install the update kit, replace the heat exchanger or replace the entire furnace at no cost to the cust.
I have seen them with everything for a small crack to a pop can size hole and they are very dangerous situations. With out knowing what happened to your mother furnace I would think that it went out on high limit and then she called the service tech and found the bad heat exchanger. That's how most of mine end up anyway.

good luck and merry christmas.

Get second opinion, preferably from utility company. They probably offer low cost insurance too.

If you can't look at it yourself, have her get a second opinion. Unfortunately the heating business, just like every other business, has a few crooks. I've even heard of repairmen punching a hole in a good heat exchanger to sell a new furnace.

Early this month somebodies kids didn't go to school and the Mom a cop didn't show up for work. St.Thomas Ontario.
The husband/Father and kids were found dead in their beds and the Mother barely alive.
After two weeks they pulled the plug on the Mother due to brain death from oxygen deparvation.
No CO or LP/propane detectors in the house. Of all people they should have known better.They had been "sick with the "flue"" for for two weeks previous.
If the house has enough cracks and holes to let fresh air blow through. You might get away with it for a while.