Its that time of year to get your furnace checked

[Brian_G]

I know I do not post often but this is an area that i am an expert in so I will give a little advice. First a background on me for all you so you all understand where I am coming from. I have done residential and light commercial HVAC service for over 15 years. I am certified Nate certified and hold many other manufacturer certifications. So where am I going with this?

Quite simple get your furnace checked at least once a year by a reputable company. Why ? well I now live in SC and its been to this point in the 50 degree range for the past month not too much need for heat, on an average day I see between 2 and 4 customers since November 1st I have found over 100 cracked heat exchangers! Yes that is correct over 100 there are days when I have found more than one and one day I found 5! Just because there is a crack does not mean that there is Carbon monoxide all the time a lot of factors figure into the production of CO but a crack increases your chance of a incedent (that can be deadly) 100x. 

One of the most common answers that I hear back when this is brought up is I have a carbon monoxide detector. that is great but read into the specifications of what you have, the ones the big box stores sell generally do not start reading till 200+ parts per million of CO way to high a level. For a co detector search the web for a company named NSI (no relations to me) they are a bit pricier (about $120) but they start detecting at 4 parts per million.

The second most common thing I hear is " my furnace is only x years old" This is not a saving point either as I have found cracks in units as new as 2 years old !

like I said all natural gas, propane and oil furnaces should be checked yearly an $89 service call is cheap compared to what the outcome of a problem could be.

With all this said one of the things that most often causes cracks in heat exchangers and relates to us is inadequate air flow across the furnace. This relates to us with the design of our small houses. When installing any type of heating unit make sure to follow the manufactures minimum requirements for ductwork as they are there for a reason.

I know it sounds like I am preaching, but having done this for many years and having to check furnaces after a death of a person to find that the heat exchanger was cracked i take it quite seriously.

Brian