In this video, Derek Cole explains the critical role of heat exchangers in furnaces and gas packs, describing how they transfer heat from the combustion chamber to the air stream. He outlines common failure modes, such as cracking at bends and material integrity loss, especially in aluminum exchangers or poorly designed steel ones. He contrasts the durability of heat exchangers used with LP gas versus natural gas, noting that LP gas’s moisture and chemical composition cause faster degradation. Derek highlights the industry shift toward stainless‑steel heat exchangers, which resist corrosion and maintain integrity, albeit at higher cost. He also details warranty practices, noting a standard 20‑year heat‑exchanger warranty on package units and lifetime warranties on high‑efficiency furnaces, reflecting manufacturers’ confidence in modern designs.
Chapters
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 sits 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 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 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 failed there. Or if it is a steel or metal, the crack also where it bends, it kind of bends like this. So in 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 a gas pack. 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 the homes, 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 exchangers 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.
