Furnace is dead

[Hawk-in-Wi]

this morning about 0630 I noticed the house felt a little cool , checked the setting on the T-stat and it was down about 4 degrees , furnace was running but no heat ,so went out and checked LP tank it was at 35%, checked kitchen stove it was working , turned the furnace off and let it set for a few minutes , turned back on and it fired up and worked , waited for the heating place that we use to opened , gave them a call , told them what was going on , they sent a service tech out this afternoon and he found that the furnace had a crack in the heat exchanger, which was letting air from the blower fan force flames out onto the front cover of the exchanger , which is Not fixable other than with a new furnace

so since the furnace was not safe to use they brought out a portable electric heater big enough to keep the house warm tonight and wired it up , so we have heat and tomorrow they will be back with a new furnace to the tune of about $6500 installed and of course i have to miss another day of work so they can be here and get every thing done ,, what a mess

 

[hittman]

Stinks that happened but good nobody got sick or worse from a carbon monoxide problem.

 

[Hawk-in-Wi]

Yes very true , the tech said he was more worried about the carbon monoxide than a fire but both were a real possibility

 

[hittman]

I have a nephew who's a partner in a local HVAC business. I've heard stories about the dreaded cracked heat exchangers.

 

[rugnelli]

Kind of a pain to deal with, but I am glad that you are getting it corrected in a timely manner and all are safe.

 

[Watertender]

I'm glad you are OK. Damaged heating equipment is nothing to fool with. Carbon monoxide is a silent killer. $6500 for your safety is cheaper than a funeral.

 

[Yaworski]

$6500 for your safety is cheaper than a funeral.

Nah, once you're dead the cost of the funeral doesn't matter.

For the record, I want no viewing and no service. Just get some people who knew me together to eat and drink. Cast my ashes into a small statue for the back yard.

 

[Hawk-in-Wi]

Nah, once you're dead the cost of the funeral doesn't matter.

For the record, I want no viewing and no service. Just get some people who knew me together to eat and drink. Cast my ashes into a small statue for the back yard.

Thanks appreciate the kind thoughts

True and pretty much the way i feel about it BUT I do have a new Grandson ( he's # 3 Grandson and the 5th Grandchild ) that just came home last week so I do need to stay around a little longer and make sure he gets started shooting the right way

 

[Mobuck]

$6500 seems pretty steep for just replacing the furnace

 

[SamV]

$6500 seems pretty steep for just replacing the furnace

You should have radiant heat. I have two boilers. I just replaced one in December for $17000. And that was the low bid. We decided to get a combination boiler that heats the water for the radiators and an also heats water for household use. It also replaces a standard water heater. It is tankless. The repairs on the old boiler were cheaper than replacement but it really was not the wiser decision.

Carbon monoxide is not something to treat lightly. I don't think a winter goes by without seeing a CO poisoning in the local news. I have three CO monitors in my house, basement, first floor, second floor.

 

[Sagebrush Burns]

Sounds like you're dealing with a good outfit, thorough and fast acting. It's not as much fun as the custom Africa hunt, but it is money well spent.

 

[blume357]

How old was the furnace?.... back in the old days before the new high efficiency gas furnaces, I used to see this a lot.
Side question, what room is the furnace in and what else is in that room?

 

[Mobuck]

"I just replaced one in December for $17000. And that was the low bid."
Better thee than me. There's a lot of 'fluff' in HVAC bids.
I thought Son was crazy when he spent $6-7K on an outdoor wood burning boiler and in-floor heat a few years back. With the increase in LP prices, he's made that back plus interest.

 

[Hawk-in-Wi]

can't complain on the age of the furnace it was put in back in 1988, had new burners put in in 2009, , it's in a full basement , behind it is a small room with the water tank and storage ect, room right next to it is a spare bedroom , other side and behind is the laundry , rest is mainly storage any more , wife took it over for , TP , paper towels , long term food stuff ect,. back when she was all worried about covid

 

[Hawk-in-Wi]

well 2 guys working for most of the last 6 hours , old furnace is out and new one is in and working, house is back up to temp about 20 minutes before the wife gets home not too bad

 

[eveled]

Strange your CO detectors didn't go off.

Curious if you saw the crack. Gas furnaces are scary. The leak lets the CO into the duct work and it can be delivered to the entire house.

 

[Jim Walsh]

Replaced my oil furnace after 36 years, it was still working fine but ready to throw in the towel. My oil company had a promotional deal whereas they replaced the unit with one that I chose from the brands they had and they offered a two year loan at ZERO percent. That was a no brainer. We agreed an a day which was two weeks out and completed the removal and installation in one day. They pulled the permits and all I had to do was supervise . The new unit is noticeably more fuel efficient. It has also performed flawlessly since new. The final cost was eight grand.

 

[Watertender]

I service my own furnace with little trouble. It's oil and over 20 years ago I put a new Wayne Blue Angel burner on it. I keep spare parts on hand and the few times I have had trouble with it I was able to fix it with little difficulty

 

[ArizonaTea123]

I live in the southern American Desert. We dont use heaters much. Usually a gas fireplace if needed.
However I've read that up in the frozen northern states the "pellet heaters" are popular. Apparently they operate the same way as a pellet barbeque grill.
Anyone here have a pellet heater for their home?

 

[Hawk-in-Wi]

around these parts pellets heaters are usually back up heaters or add on to help out , it would take a pretty large unit to heat a whole house when it gets below 0 out for days on end