Derek Cole explains why furnace heat exchangers crack. Aluminum units fail faster than stainless steel, installation quality matters, and switching fuel types can cause cracks. CO alarms should sit low near bedrooms and last about 7 years.
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Foreign. I'm Derek Cole, host of the Derek Cole Podcast and we believe in taking the time to explain how things work for your air at home or your business. Let's get into today's episode. Please listen closely and maybe even take some notes so you can remember these insights of home comfort and energy savings. And share this episode with three of your friends because we all need to share better ways to be more comfortable at home. Be sure to tag me or DM me on Instagram Derek Mcole so I can say hi. Thanks again for listening.
And let's begin.
What are possible causes for cracks in my heat exchanger?
Heat exchanger is going to be a big thing coming up here in the fall and the winter. So kind of explain a little bit what the heat exchanger does. When you have a furnace or a gas pack, anything that is burning the fuel, you have a chamber in which that flame sets to warm the air up. That is what's going to be the heat exchanger. So usually when they crack is because it is, you know, the technical term of losing the integrity. It's, it's something that has gone wrong in the. It's either designed poorly and it's designed with say a plastic or a not plastic, but really, really a. Oh geez, what is the name of that? It's not steel. Aluminum. Aluminum. Where the aluminum has been put together, it's probably filled there. Or if it, if it is a steel or metal, the crack also where it bends, it kind of bends like this. So those bends each time, you know, obviously the metal is getting smaller when it bends. So the integrity is not as strong as, you know, or thick as the top or the bottom. So it tends to crack there as well. You see a lot more problems or faster problems with LP gas versus natural gas. And it's simply because of the makeup and the moisture content. So an lp say gas pack, that heat exchanger is probably going to fail sooner than if you had a natural gas source for that same kind of gas bag. It's just the chemical makeup and the way it is. So what they're doing today on a lot of these is giving you a stainless steel option for the heat exchanger, which is more expensive but is a better option because then you don't have the corrosion, you don't have the loss of integrity happening. And with the product we move and we actually put in homes, it comes with a 20 year heat exchanger warranty on the package product. And the higher or the higher efficient furnaces comes with a lifetime heat exchanger warranty. So they're very confident in the heat exchanger they're making these days with the higher end products that it's not going to fail. And if it does, it's replaced obviously. So it's nothing to play with. I mean, when you have a Krag heat exchanger, you're having now the carbon monoxide possibly going into the home. So anytime you have a gas fired appliance, dryer, stove, furnace, gas bag, you need to make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector in the home. It's odorless, you're not going to smell it, it's going to creep up on you and by the time you get headaches, it's probably way too late. You'll have some problems there. So make sure you have a carbon monoxide alarm. And this question was not about carbon dioxide alarms. But while I'm on the subject, I will tell you the fire and smoke alarms with the carbon dioxide that's in the ceiling, that's not going to help you out any. You need a CO alarm that is at the receptacle floor level and it's also recommended to put it close to a bedroom. Therefore if it goes off during the night, you can hear it. So I would put one at each.
Level of the house and in the.
Middle of the hall at the bedrooms.
Low to the ground because again, it's.
A gas is going to be low to the ground by the time it gets way up here. I mean we're already having problems, so that's going to be too late. So get a CO alarm that is.
At the ground, plug it in at.
The bedrooms, that way you can hear if it goes off.
Back to the original question, what was the question?
Possible causes for cracks in the heat exchanger.
So causes for cracks, lack of maintenance as well as just gas makeup. Depending on what kind of products in the home and if it's LP or natural gas, and depending on how was installed, all this is going to really play into what happens with the heat exchanger down the road. But those tips I gave you are good advice. So make sure any gas appliance, if you have anything gas in the house, make sure you have a CO alarm. Seven years is the lifespan on a CO alarm. I'm not even answering the question anymore. I'm going off on safety.
But seven years is the lifetime on that alarm. It's the same as your fire and smoke alarms. It does need to be replaced. It doesn't last forever. It, it can go bad. The sensors in it will start breeding so make sure that is in place. But yeah, a crack heat exchanger is nothing to play with. If we find it in the home, we shut the gas off to it completely. Because you can't, you can't keep that running. We can't knowingly come to your house and then leave a safety hazard in place and us walk away. So that's not going to happen with us. Even if it's 20, 25 degrees outside. Unfortunately, you rather be alive and be cold. So you know, if you want to be cold, you want to be dead, which one do you want? So you want to make sure you're safe, your family safe. So co carbon dioxide is nothing to play with. So a cracking exchanger is a problem in this area. Depending on LP or natural gas, depends on really the lifespan, the system. But there's very little you're doing with preventing it from cracking. So it's just one of them deals. One of them deals.
That was a long answer.
It wasn't even real. I went off on co, but that's fine because that's a good tip. Yeah, that's safe. That's what you need to know. So if you have that CO alarm, that's the fire and smoke alarm and CO in one and it's on the ceiling, I mean that's not going to work for the co. So you need to make sure you get one at the floor. Really that's the biggest problem we've seen out in the field is having the alarms that are on the top of the ceiling or on the wall. And really it's not doing you any good because by the time it reaches it can read that level, there's already quite a few. And the issues are that people in the house are not living anymore. I mean if it gets that high, I mean if you read up on co, it's very, very deadly and it can sneak up on you. So you need something? Yeah.
Okay. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Derek Cole Podcast. Tell some people about this episode. It's on each of us really, to spread the better ways to be healthier and more comfortable in our homes and workspaces. I'm asking you to be the dealer of positive and life changing messages in your circle of influence. Take a screenshot right now and share the screenshot and the link to this episode with three of your friends today. Share it on social media. Use the hashtag Healthy Home. That's Healthy Home. We are always giving away shout outs, prizes to our community. If you would like to help me personally, then please rate and review on Apple podcast. Give it some stars. Leave a review because that stuff actually does help. And I'll read all the comments. So my last thought for today Please remember you deserve better air at home and greater comfort at home. Don't settle for being uncomfortable for heating air every single month. We are so thankful for having you here in our community and be sure to go deeper with us at simmons1hour.com.
