Gas furnace

Can a heat exchanger be replaced or repaired on a gas furnace?

Reply to
tmurpha1hi
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Hi, I never heard they repair it but you can have it replaced. If the furnace is quite old, maybe time to think upgrading.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Sure. Given it is old enough to rot or burn out, it is probably more sensible to upgrade to a much more efficient unit. It will save a bundle of money in the long run.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Sure, it's possible. When I worked for Sears (briefly so) my trainer and I did several heat exchanger replacements.

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

It's like so many other things... it's possible to replace a furnace heat exchanger, but that's not an economic alternative. The cost will be close to that of replacing the whole furnace, and everything else in that furnace is 15 to 20 years old and can go at any time. So, better to spend more and get a new high efficiency furnace rather than keep the old one alive only to have to spend more on repairs as it gets still older.

Note that if you get a high efficiency "condensing" furnace, that means that so much heat will be taken out of the flue gas that it won't rise up your chimney any more AND corrosive condensate will precipitate out of that flue gas. So, typically, the flue from a condensing furnace will just be vented out a side wall with a blower blowing the flue gas out and drawing fresh air in.

Also, some jurisdictions require that the condensate from high efficiency boilers, furnaces and water heaters be treated before being dumped into the sewer. That means you have to buy or build a pH neutralizing filter to neutralize the corrosive condensate, and that's not hard to do. There's a company in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan called Axiom Industries that provides the filter media for $40 for a 40 pound box. It's called NMD-25, and it works very well at neutralizing corrosive condensate providing your filter is large enough. It's most common to just run the condensate through the filter and into a sump pit, and then let the sump pump pump it out along with any ground water in the sump pit.

Reply to
nestork

I had a $600 control board fail on a 14 year gas old furnance and instead of replacing the board elected to go with a brand new and here are the results:

80% to 96% effeciency, which is $25 dollars a month in winter in gas savings(Canada) from what I can see in my bills (1800 square foot home)

$650 in government refunds for replacing old furnance with new high effiecency

$250 government refund for installing a variable speed blower fan.

Variable speed blower appears to be saving $1 a day in Air conditionting costs (June July August usages)

Just some things for the OP to consider.

Reply to
Hench

There were some furnaces where the heat exchanger failed early - and replacing would be an effective and sensible repair. In most cases though, replacing the entire furnace would make more sense.

Reply to
clare

I remember one failing when i Was young. It was under warranty. Must have been a 10 year warranty, back in the 60's.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

On Sun, 17 Mar 2013 22:16:43 -0400, snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca wrote in Re Re: Gas furnace:

If I had a furnace where the heat exchanger failed early (but not still under warranty), I would not want to spend money to replace and thus continue with a manufacturer with a proven significant design failure.

Reply to
CRNG

It's not often worth it. Unless the furnace was very young. Even warranty seldom covers the labor. On most furnaces you parctically have to tear th e entire thing apart to get at the heat exchanger. So the labor is high. Doubtful that anyone would repair because of the liability.

Reply to
jamesgang

Sometimes the replacements were a modified/improved unit.

Reply to
clare

rranty seldom covers the labor.  On most furnaces you parctically have to tear the entire thing apart to get at the heat exchanger.  So the labor is high.  Doubtful that anyone would repair because of the liability.

I agree. Can it be done and does it make any sense are two different things. The eqpt cost for a new high efficiency furnace can be as little as $1000. And I would think the labor of getting that heat exchanger out and a new one back in could be the same or more than putting in a new, drop-in replacement furnace.

Reply to
trader4

In the 1990's, my Sears (Heil) 94% efficiency condensing gas furnace had a factory recall requiring the replacement of the heat exchanger.

Sears sent out 2 guys with a new heat exchanger and the job was completed in about an hour from start to finish. The furnace had to be removed from the plenum and return ducts, and the connecting gas pipe and PVC exhaust had to be unconnected and reconnected, in addition to the internal baffles, secondary heat exchanger, wiring and other stuff.

I was totally amazed at how quickly they did the job. It was part of a large recall so I will assume they were very familiar with all aspects of the job before they arrived, since they had presumably done many other recalled units before they did mine.

At that time, the furnace was 8 years old roughly, originally cost $1900 installed, and the heat exchanger replacement would have been about a $1200 replacement if it were billed to the homeowner.

Hope this helps.

Smarty

seldom covers the labor. On most furnaces you parctically have to tear the entire thing apart to get at the heat exchanger. So the labor is high. Doubtful that anyone would repair because of the liability.

Reply to
Smarty

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