Is my heat exchanger hosed?
Hi All,
My parent's have Trane XR90 furnace and recently had an inspection where they were told their furnace needs to be replaced soon, as there are cracks in the heat exchanger. I don't trust this company for various other reasons, and wanted to get the opinion of pros on here. Here are the pictures they took and wanted to get a good feel on what everyone things. If it needs to be replaced so be it, but want to confirm. This company deemed this unfit for service and should be replaced asap.
Thank you all. Looking forward to your input.
Comments
-
Hard to tell from pictures but it looks bad to me.
0 -
Those pics do not look like a tranTrane heat exchanger.
0 -
Is that the Heat Exchanger or some sort of insulation or a heat shield type barrier.
National - U.S. Gas Boiler 45+ Years Old
Steam 300 SQ. FT. - EDR 347
One Pipe System0 -
It looks like the hx against the foil faced insulation inside the jacket. i don't know enough about how that hx is built to know if that is open to the fire side or is just a byproduct of how the metal is folded at the edge. also is it still under warranty, it looks very new.
0 -
That's an interesting observation. I don't really know myself, I was given these pictures by my sister who was present when the guy was trying to tell them they need a new furnace.
Good question, as above, I don't know. Pics were provided by the tech, or rather my sis snapped pics from the screen. There was always some corrosion on the furnace around the exhaust pipe, think from condensate, so for all I know this is a picture from somewhere inside that isn't actually the main physical part. I do have a scope similar to that, I think I will go and do my own inspection on it as well.
Interesting observation. This is definitely not under warranty, it's original to the house that was built in 2007. At one point it had a board burn out which I replaced like 7 years ago, think it was from an energy spike, which I replaced myself for like $80, but the furnaces hasn't caused us any issues, until these guys showed up for another issue (water heater) and mentioned this, as my parents got suckered into some kind of $10 a month plan that includes yearly inspections. I don't trust this company anymore, so I am very skeptical on getting the furnace replaced as it still works and isn't giving them any issues.
I will watch some YouTube videos to see how to best inspect this and perhaps snap my own pics and come back here for further opinions.
Thanks guys.
1 -
the hx warranty could be 5 years, it could be 20 real years, it could be 20 pro rated years or any number of other terms.
1 -
A couple of tests. Start the furnace with the blower off and the stat set to auto. Watch the flame closely and see if it changes when the fan starts. If it does the hx is toast.
The other way is to cover the flue outlet outside with plastic wrap or plastic bag secured with a rubber band. Have someone start and stop the fan while you watch the plastic bag for movement
3 -
I don't recognize the pics, but whatever it is there are definitive cracks present.
1
Categories
- All Categories
- 87K THE MAIN WALL
- 3.2K A-C, Heat Pumps & Refrigeration
- 57 Biomass
- 425 Carbon Monoxide Awareness
- 116 Chimneys & Flues
- 2.1K Domestic Hot Water
- 5.7K Gas Heating
- 107 Geothermal
- 160 Indoor-Air Quality
- 3.6K Oil Heating
- 70 Pipe Deterioration
- 983 Plumbing
- 6.3K Radiant Heating
- 389 Solar
- 15.4K Strictly Steam
- 3.4K Thermostats and Controls
- 54 Water Quality
- 44 Industry Classes
- 48 Job Opportunities
- 18 Recall Announcements