Operating a furnace with a cracked heat exchanger can be very dangerous.
Cracked oil furnace heat exchanger.
So you need to get a replacement ready to avoid inconveniences if it breaks.
A damaged heat exchanger in a gas furnace is potentially dangerous to a home s occupants and should not be ignored.
If your gas furnace is about that age the chances are high that the heat exchanger can crack.
A cracked heat exchanger in a gas furnace is a serious safety issue.
Step 1 check the furnace heat exchanger.
The combustible gas will become hotter as it accumulates in the exchanger.
Even though your furnace may look and seem fine dangerous gases could leak into your home and seriously affect even kill your family members.
Before you can do any repairs you should make sure that you check over your furnace heat exchanger thoroughly.
The heat exchanger on a furnace is the section that keeps the combustion chamber and the breathing air separate 3.
Proper diagnosis of a failed or cracked heat exchanger.
Look for signs that the metal has been overheated or symptoms of long term metal fatigue.
Consequently air temperature becomes hotter.
Potential dangers of a cracked heat exchanger.
There are certain signs to look for to determine if the heat exchanger has been.
This trips a safety switch and shuts down the furnace.
If a heat exchanger becomes cracked then your heating system will not perform as it should.
A heat exchanger is made of thin metal and as it heats up from the combustion of the furnace it transfers the heat to the air being distributed through the house by the blower 3.
When a heat exchanger becomes damaged and the combustion fumes and gases mix with the clean air.
Diagnosis of a heat exchanger crack typically starts with a no heat service call.
In some cases owners discover they have a cracked heat exchanger because the furnace shut down.
Remove it from the furnace and examine it in the light.
Furnaces are equipped with a safety feature called a flame rollout limit switch.
Combustion gasses and carbin monoxide can be.
Examine the crack itself.
Broken and leaking heat exchangers are responsible for about 1 500 deaths per year in the united states and many more people are poisoned by exposure to toxic gasses that go unfiltered by defective heat exchangers.
Here is a video of a crack in a heat exchanger we found during a oil furnace cleaning and tune up in yardley pa.