Furnace and smoke damage

[Colbyt]

We had a fire in a house we own. A lot of heavy black smoke. The furnace was located in a closet (solid door) in the same room as the fire. The insurance company wants to remove clean and reinstall the same furnace with all new ductwork. Considering the fact that the entire house is being gutted because of smoke damage I have a real hard time believing that the furnace can be properly cleaned. I hate to trash a 10 year old one but I feel that is the only proper thing to do.

Turtle, HVAC, Heatman? Any experience with this? Anyone else?

Colbyt

[Greg O]

The differance between "cleaning" the old furnace, and just replacing it will be little considering it will be removed anyway! You still have the cost of removing and reinstalling it. I would push for tossing it and getting a new one. Put it this way, stick $500+ into cleaning, (what ever that entails!?), or aproximately $1500 for just the furnace. If all else fails ask the insurance co. if you can foot the differance and replace it. It may cost you $500 - $1000 to do it, bit I would be more comfortable going new. Greg

[HeatMan]

Strictly an opinion.

Your insurance company is trying to be cheap.

If the furnace ran at all during the fire(like the AC came on), it's toast.

Tell the adjuster that it can be cleaned, but if there is any problems, the insurance company will pay for the replacement, even if it's going to mean essentially paying for the furnace twice.

The only thing I have taken out to be cleaned has been evaporator coils. The have (almost) no moving parts and nothing electrical.