Oil furnace draft test fan off -02 to fan on +01 problem?

I just recently had my heater service company over for a cleaning and servicing on my oil fired forced hot air system the other day. I couldn't be present at the cleaning but within 15 minutes I received a call from the technician saying that the draft reading was bad and he thought my system should be replaced.

A 'draft test' was done with the -02 fan off and +01 fan on reading lead the tech to tell me this. This was done before the heater was either cleaned or serviced in any way. No nozzle change or anything. I believe that due to scheduling conflicts last year my heater never got serviced so I feel perhaps this complicated the issue. That plus it was about 90 degress outside that day, and I think the techinician didn't want the dirty job of cleaning out the furnace in those conditions.

Should I obtain a second opinion of this?, shouldn't have the furnace been cleaned first and then readings obtained? The unit is over

25 years old and by rights has passed it's life expectancy but I feel perhaps the tech may have taken the easy way out being I wasn't there and he could charge me $65 and walk away without cleaning anything, then an hour and a half of dirty cleaning and only charging me $125.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated!

Thanks

Reply to
RSBaxter
Loading thread data ...

Thanks very much for you advice, i called the company back and am waiting for them to call me back now on this.

Reply to
GenesisFan

The charge for the cleaning doesn't sound that bad. I thibnk the guy was just trying to sell you a new furnace. Maybe he gets commission for that. But to be fair (since I wasn't there), I'll make a few points:

Getting a bad draft reading can be caused by several factors. Most of the time it has something to do with the chimnay and not the furnace. I said MOST. You can get a different reading on a 90 degree day compared to a 30 degree day. You CAN get a different reading before it's cleaned compared to AFTER it's cleaned. Now, you can test the draft when the burner first kicks in and if it changes when the fan kicks in, THAT could mean that you have a crack in the heat exchanger which CAN lead to something catatsrophic. If that was the case, he should have told you and then condemned the unit.

Maybe what you need to do is call them back up and explain exactly why they think you need a new furnace (other than that it is old).

Reply to
Dr. Hardcrab

Give us an update once they solve the problem (or not)

Reply to
Dr. Hardcrab

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.