The heat exchanger is one of the most important components in your furnace, and while our winters are quite mild here in La Habra, CA, you’ll still have need of a system with a functioning heat exchanger. When it suffers a crack, it’s a serious problem that requires immediate attention to correct. To understand why, you need to understand how a heat exchanger works, and why you should never use a furnace that has a cracked or otherwise damaged exchanger.
How a Heat Exchanger Works
Furnaces use gas-fed burners to generate heat, but those burners can’t directly heat the air. Doing so would be supremely inefficient as well as adding toxic trace gasses like carbon monoxide to the air. Instead, the burning gas passes through the heat exchangers: shaped pieces of metal that vent the toxins off into an exhaust pipe, then heat up themselves. That passes the heat safely onto the air above the exchangers, while keeping the toxins away. The air can then be blown into your house with a fan, warming it as the heater runs.
Why a Cracked Heat Exchanger Is a Problem.
The heat exchanger undergoes extremes in temperature: heating up while you run the furnace and then cooling off when you shut it down. Over time, all that stress can lead to cracks and corrosion. A crack not only curtails the efficiency of your heater—forcing you to spend much more in monthly operating costs—but prevents those toxic gases from being properly released. As a result they will leak into your home and pose a serious risk to your health and the health of your family. That’s why you should always shut off a furnace with a cracked heat exchanger and call in a qualified repair service.
JC Mechanical can repair or replace a crack heat exchanger. Call us today!