HVAC technician Derek Cole explains how to spot a cracked heat exchanger using an inspection camera and proper lighting. Different furnace brands fail in predictable spots. He documents cracks with photos and marks, then disables the unit because a crack can leak carbon monoxide. A second-opinion company once missed his marked crack entirely.
I've had furnace companies inspect my furnace in the past and tell me that there is a crack in the heat exchanger and the furnace needs to be replaced. I could not see the cracks but assume that you need magnification to see them. Is there a way as a homeowner that you can tell whether it's true or whether they're just trying to scam you?
A couple things should be done in that situation. If it's a very small hairline crack, You're probably not going to see it unless you have a heat exchanger camera and go in there with a light and find it. There are books as well on heat exchangers depending on manufacturer. You know, a Carrier heat exchanger fails differently than a Goodman heat exchanger does. It has different spots in which it's prone to fail, so that's obviously the spot they're looking at. A picture can be taken with these devices. Even the cameras we have, you can actually bring a screen to the homeowner and say, "I'm going to go, keep watching the screen, you want to see it, I'm going to go to the furnace and I'll show it to you." So that can be done, that should be done, that way you're confident in what they find, as well as if they do find a crack in the exchanger, it is, going back to CO, it is a danger. And it should be disabled. We disable all of ours because it is a safety hazard because the possibility of CO coming into your house is not worth the risk of not turning it off. So we turn it off, kill the gas to it, put a sticker on it. That way if a company comes behind us, they know that we found a cracked heat exchanger. Now I've had these phone calls before where companies do come behind us. I'll give you a good example. I had one last year. Company came behind us, couldn't find the crack, couldn't find the holes, and the technician told me, did you take the top off the unit? And I said, did you take the top off the unit? The guy said no. I said, well, if you take the top off, he's got a marker around where the crack is. So it depends on who's doing the second opinion. I mean, this guy wasn't even going to take the top off the unit. He was just going to say it was good to go, turn the gas back on. That's nothing to play with. I mean, you're playing with lives and you're playing with CO, something very dangerous. So you want to be sure that that heat exchanger is good before you activate it. And if there's any kind of problem, you need to see the evidence of that problem before. Then that gives you peace of mind. You can say, yes, even though I can't physically see it from looking right here, I can't really see the crack. I know that with the camera he found a crab because I saw a photo, I saw the video, and I know what I got.
Hold on one second. I think it's getting ready to turn off, but it shouldn't because I deleted the card.
How's that?
That was good.
That was a real phone call too. I don't—
I mean, it shouldn't shut off.
Okay, you want to restart it?
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