One of the major concerns with a furnace is when the heat exchanger develops a crack. When a heat exchanger develops a crack the gas and fumes created inside the heat exchanger will leak out of the furnace and into the home. A cracked heat exchanger can become a dangerous situation, but luckily they are not too common. However, it is important to know how to detect a cracked heat exchanger should one occur. New York Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing will share the signs and symptoms of a cracked heat exchanger.
Why Does My Furnace Smell Weird?
When a heat exchanger cracks it will release carbon monoxide gases. Carbon monoxide doesn’t have a smell, taste, nor can be seen. If enough of the carbon monoxide builds up inside the home you will be to detect a slight odor kind of like exhaust fumes from an engine. When you can smell a fume exhaust like odor inside the home, it most likely is carbon monoxide gas inside the home.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Symptoms
If exposed to carbon monoxide gases people will begin to become ill. In most cases early exposure symptoms begin with a headache. The longer a person is exposed the more their symptoms will worsen, developing into nausea, vomiting, disorientation, and could even lead into a coma. Carbon monoxide poisoning is very dangerous. When illness first begins, get out of the home. Before you leave quickly turn of the furnace and open up the windows.
Black Soot Coming from Furnace
When there is a crack in the heat exchanger, you’ll see around the site of the crack, soot or burn marks. The soot marks are due to the combustion coming through the crack. When you suspect there may be a crack in the heat exchanger, the crack location is easily detected by the soot marks.
What Does a Crack in the Furnace Mean?
Sometimes a cracked heat exchanger may go unnoticed. Sometimes the carbon monoxide gases are ventilated enough that the homeowner doesn’t feel its effects. When a furnace begins to develop problems heating the home or during a routine tune-up, the HVAC technician may discover some corrosion inside the furnace. When a technician discovers corrosion inside the furnace and along its other components they know at this point there is a cracked heat exchanger.
Why is My Pilot Flame Yellow?
Another sign of a cracked heat exchanger is the pilot light’s flame color. A pilot light burns a blue colored flame constantly. However, when the flame color turns yellow, this is a sign of either a dirty burner or a cracked heat exchanger. To help determine why the flame is yellow, you can perform a simple test. Turn on the fan. If the flame flickers or bends you have a cracked heat exchanger.
Emergency Furnace Repair & More in Bedford Hills, Manhattan, Flushing, Queens, Brooklyn & The Bronx, New York
A cracked heat exchanger is a serious problem if it happens to occur. It can lead to illness and even death if not detected and repaired. When signs of a cracked heat exchanger appear, the first step is to turn off the furnace. Next open up all of the windows in the home and turn on the exhaust fans to help get the carbon monoxide gas out of the home. Then contact an HVAC service to come and replace the cracked heat exchanger. For HVAC and plumbing services, contact New York Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing today.
