Cracked heat exchanger for home owners

Home Owner edition: Heat exchanger failure.
Did your technician say "you have a cracked heat exchanger"?
This video is for you!
The heat exchanger is the heart of the furnace. Its job is to transfer heat form the flames and hot gases inside to the air on the outside wile keeping them both completely separate.

If there is a breach, crack or hole in the heat exchanger it can let the gasses and fumes such as Caron monoxide mix with the air in the home that can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. this means the heat exchanger or the entire furnace will need to be replaced.

The real question, Is it really bad, or is the tech trying to make a sale?

I have had an overwhelming amount of homeowners questions about this and I have had a lot of techs concerned with other companies using these tactics and even their own employer wants the to do this.

Since HVAC is rapidly growing with high projections, a lof of business people are jumping into the trade and brining in their sales tactics with them. Many companies are being bought up by private equity firms and converting them to a sales driven business model. They have quotas for the technicians, they have heavy sales training with little technical training. In the office they have leader boards to promote the highest sales and to keep track of the ones who are not keeping up. There is even companies advertising sales systems to convert Technicians to sales professionals. As a tradesman who enjoys working with my hands, solving problems, fixing things, helping customers it saddens me to see this recent turn.

Lets prepare you with as much information so you can make the most informed decision and stay safe!

#1 have atleast 1 LOW LEVEL CO MONITOR. an alarm is nice but it will not sound off until the levels are high! you need to be notified at low levels to get the problem solved before it becomes an emergency.

#2 check to see if the technician is certified in combustion analysis. In these classes they are trained to inspect the furnace burning characteristics with a tool called a combustion analyzer for proper operation. They are also trained to identify different CO sources. NCI is one of the highest known certification but there are many specialty combustion trainings from RSES, ESCO, Measurequick, Green Building council, BPI, and more. I do want to clarify there are professionals that have the knowledge and experience of combustion analysis without a certificate.

#3 The technician is looking at the whole house including the water heater, fire place, to identify other CO sources to ensure you are safe. Even if they are not a plumber they are inspecting the plastic on the water heater for signs of back draft and measuring CO. If your technician is wearing a personal CO monitor on them, there is a good change they have taken on of the classes and understand the importance of CO.

#4 they are showing you the beached heat exchanger with either a mirror, or camera. Unfortunately some techs are using web images and saying they are yours. If you can see the image live with an inspection camera or if the picture is the newest on on the phone its a good indication its likely legitimate.

#5 Get a second opinion. Sure its going to cost money for another service call but sometimes a second opinion will shed light on the situation. make sure the second opinion is certified this time. don't just look for someone telling you what you want to hear. Call to have your heat exchanger inspected or have a CO check. Maybe don't immediately lead on that someone said you had a bad heat exchanger. sometimes companies will wave the service fee for a second opinion if you have the invoice from the first.

#6 look for the sales signs.
a: A little too friendly, are they trying to be your friend or your buddy?
b: They are pushing oyu to make a decision now, its about to expire, we have 1 spot left, the sale ends today!
c: The company has a lot of advertising, radio jingles, tv ads, bill boards, shoring up in all your social media adds and searches. Often lots of marketing means sales trained techs.

#7 Once you have a confirmed failed heat exchanger,
a: see if the existing one is under warranty, many have 20 Year warranties. often there will be allowances to let the heat exchanger cost go towards a replacement unit.
b: Get input from multiple companies.
c: look for companies that are evaluating the whole house not just a price.
d: look for companies doing heat load calculations, since most furnaces are oversized.
e: make sure the company is looking at the ductwork, flue pipe and makeup air so the furnace will operate correctly long term.
f: reviews can no longer be trusted. large companies have figured out how to get the ratings up with incentives and threats against bad reviews. Smaller ones often only get hit with the inevitable unhappy customer without the leverage to get those removed or the offset form pushing for positives.

Find a good honest tech and company!