Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odorless, colorless gas produced by the burning of something.  In this case fossil fuels such as propane or natural gas.  All furnaces that use these fuel sources produce carbon monoxide at some level.  Carbon monoxide is created by burning organic materials and is made worse when not enough oxygen is used when burning these fuels.  CO becomes dangerous to humans at levels from 35 to 50 parts per million (ppm).  The higher the ppm and the longer the exposure the more harmful it is.  Carbon monoxide is harmful to humans because it stops the absorption of oxygen to the body.  Symptoms of CO poisoning include nausea, dizziness, headaches and feeling weak or tired.  The smaller the person the greater the effects are usually felt.

CO and your Furnace

For this blog we will stick with the causes for the presence of CO related to your furnace or water heater.  In both of these natural gas or propane is burned in a metal chamber and then exhausted out a flue.  If this chamber (heat exchanger) is cracked or split in anyway then the burned gases now have access to the air stream.  If the flue for these appliances is cracked, separated, or clogged this can also cause CO to enter your home.  In addition if the flue exits your home near an open window or door then carbon monoxide can be pulled into your home.

Prevention

For the best prevention of these EVERY home with a gas appliance should have several CO detectors.  At least one per floor but even better is one within 6 feet of each bedroom.  These detectors are inexpensive and most can be plugged into a normal wall outlet.  Another way to help protect your family is to have these appliances serviced and checked on a regular basis.  If your carbon monoxide detector does go off, open your windows, shut off the gas supply to your appliances and leave the home.  Call us so we may check  them for safety.  Keep in mind that many things create carbon monoxide, your car, furnace , water heater even gas ranges and fire places.  Be safe have them checked annually.

cracked heat exchanger leaking carbon monoxide

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Many companies today are looking for and reporting more cracked heat exchangers than ever before.  We wanted to post a blog about this so consumers know a bit more about the subject.  Let’s start by explaining what a heat exchanger is and what it does.  A heat exchanger on a gas furnace is a metal box in which flames pass through as they go from your furnace to your flue.  Exchangers sit in the air stream of the house air and are sealed so that the two never meet.

Why This Is Dangerous

When you have a crack in this box a few things are likely to happen.  The first is that the pressure from the indoor fan motor pushing air through the furnace can cause the flames to roll out into the furnace cabinet.  This can cause a fire, carbon monoxide into the surrounding air, or hopefully just result in a tripped safety switch.  The second major issue is that the carbon monoxide from the heat exchanger can be passed through to the indoor air stream.  This is going to allow it to directly enter your home every time your furnace runs.  CO is a very poisonous gas (see blog carbon monoxide) and is nothing to take lightly.  Let me add that any service company that finds a crack should shut the furnace down and inform you of the danger.

Heat Exchanger – What They Didn’t Tell You

Now the stuff they won’t tell you.  Most furnace heat exchangers are warrantied for 20 years. I can’t tell you the times we’ve been told of someone needing a new furnace only to find out it is under warranty.  Replacing an 80% heat exchanger is a simple repair and will bring most furnaces back to normal operation.  Many brands are known for having cracked heat exchangers so technicians know just where to look on that brand.  In many cases the heat exchanger has been cracked for years.  Most cracks are small and do not leak CO, yet.  However a crack is a crack, at any time a crack can become larger and cause serious issues.  Furthermore welding the crack is NOT an acceptable option.  If any company offers to repair the heat exchanger in any way make sure you call another company.

AcRepairBoise.com

I hope this blog has helped you understand heat exchangers and what they do.  For more information on this and other subject be sure and check our blog site regularly.  If you need assistance be sure and give us a call at (208) 898-9888.  For all of your heating and cooling repair needs, Call the honest experts!

heat exchanger crack

Carrier heat exchanger

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My power went out yesterday at about 3 a.m, I woke up about 5:30 to darkness and 3 kids trying to get ready for school in a dark and cold house.  This heating repair Boise event caused me to wonder if some of the things I know could help others when they were in need of a heating repair.  We all know the obvious things such as keeping all your doors, windows and blinds closed to hold in the heat.  But did you know that most water heaters that run on gas still work in a power outage.  That is right even without power you can still enjoy a nice hot shower or bath.  Also most every gas fireplace will run without power, this can be used, as I did, to heat your home to a comfortable level.  In addition it provides a nice light to see by while stumbling through the home. Between some candles a flash light and our fireplace we were able to keep warm, get ready and get the kids off to school, all without power.

Some Other Helps

Other ways to keep warm in the event of a heating repair Boise.  If your heater dies in the middle of the night and you want to keep warm until the repair guys get there in the morning, here are a few helpful tips.  Since we all know we live in COLD country.  It is always wise to have 1 or 2 space heaters around for back up.  The heaters I recommend are the oil filled sealed heaters (they look a lot like old radiators).

Other Heat Sources

Heating repair Boise

Most homes have an electric oven. Ever cooked a large turkey all day?   Then you know this will warm your house in the event of a heating repair Boise. Set the temperature for 250 degrees and open the door to the first notch.  This will allow the oven heat to escape into the kitchen and the rest of the house.  PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF SMALL CHILDREN AND PETS SAFETY FIRST! In addition you can put your furnace fan on the “on” position on your thermostat.  This will circulate the heat to the rest of the rooms in the house.  Providing some heat to your crawl space to protect those water lines.  By using one or several of the above tips you should be able to stay warm. Until help arrives to solve your heating repair Boise issues.

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Honeywell filter

Furnace Repair Meridian Idaho- Filters

For this furnace repair Meridian Idaho we are going to walk through filters, the proper use, type and when to replace them.  On a recent furnace repair meridian Idaho I had a customer who had an old EAC (electronic air cleaner) casing. The EAC had broken awhile ago so she put 3 normal 1″ filters in their place.  Her thinking was that there was enough room for 3 of them so this should work better.  Unfortunately for this furnace repair Meridian Idaho she was incorrect.

Where are my filters

Most furnaces are made to have (2) 1″ filters sitting in a V shape above the furnace.  In some cases installers will upgrade the system to use a 4″or 5″ filter.  These are good options when the system is designed that way.  This furnace repair Meridian Idaho however it was not.  By using 3 filters stacked it caused low air flow across the coil.   Causing the furnace to overheat and turn off.  The reason for this is when you have a 5″ filter you still only have 1 layer of filter for the air to go though not 3.  When you use 2 or 3 filters now you have several layers for the air to try to push through.  This causes the furnace blower to work extra hard to push the needed air though causing the furnace to over heat and the a/c unit to freeze up like a snowman.

Review Filters

So lets review this furnace repair Meridian Idaho mistake.  Use only the proper size filter when you can.  If the proper size is not available use only 1 1″ filter in place of it.  Use a good quality pleated filter and replace it every 90 to 180 days.  If you are unsure of the type or size of the filter your system uses, or even where they are located.  Give the experts a call at Ac Repair Boise.  We can tell you where they are, what kind to get and even deliver you special sized filters if your system requires them.  Don’t risk an expensive furnace repair Meridian Idaho, buy quality filters and change them often, your system will thank you buy running longer and better than you ever expected it to.

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Here in eagle we enjoy our wide open spaces, mountain views, clean neighborhoods, and staying warm in the winter time!  When you have a furnace repair Eagle Idaho here are some things that may help get you through it.  The three most common repairs for furnace repair Eagle Idaho are.  Dirty filters causing your furnace to overheat and shut off.  Dirty flame sensor causing your flames to run for 8 seconds and then shut down.  A bad igniter which fails and will no longer light your burners causing a gas smell by your furnace.  These fortunately are all very easy fixes for a furnace repair Eagle Idaho.

Furnace Repair Eagle Idaho

When your filters get to dirty they slow the airflow down across your furnace.   This causes your furnace to overheat and trip your  limit switch inside your furnace.  This limit switch is designed to reset itself multiple times before going bad.  However most homeowners do not notice it is tripping until it is broken all the way.  If this is your furnace repair Eagle Idaho then the best course of action is to replace your filters.  Turn your breaker off and back on again and try the system again.  If your limit isn’t bad this will get you back on the road with no cost outlay.

Flame sensor common repair

If you flame sensor is dirty, flames will light but only for about 8 seconds before turning off.  This is because the senor cannot sense the flame is there and shuts off to prevent unlit gas from building up inside the chamber.  If this is your furnace repair Eagle Idaho then your flame sensor needs to be cleaned (see previous post “flame sensor” to see what we do).  This can be done for little to no cost outlay.

Igniter lights the gas

If your igniter is bad then you will not get a flame at all, you will hear gas go into the chamber but not light.  You will smell the odor of gas near your furnace (because it has not lit).  If you igniter is bad then again the flame sensor cannot sense that the gas is lit so it shuts down your gas flow after 8 seconds.  You will know if your igniter is good because it will glow a bright orange just before the gas comes out.  If this is your furnace repair Eagle Idaho then the fix is to replace your igniter with a new one and reset your breaker to clear the fault.  this repair runs about $160-$180 during regular hours.

If you need our assistance with the above or any other furnace repair Eagle Idaho, then please give us a call here at acRepairBoise.com and we will get one of our highly qualified Techs out there as soon as possible to get you back up and running.

furnace repair Eagle Idaho

igniter

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flame sensor

For this furnace repair Boise Id. we are going to talk about flame sensors.  A flame sensor is a device that, yep you guessed it,  senses flame.  The flame sensor sits in front of the last burner and directly in the path of the flames.  When your  ignitor lights the gas, every burner is lit and then the sensor sends a signal back the the main control board telling it that it is OK  to leave the gas on.

Diagnosis

On this furnace repair Boise Id. the control board was giving us a code error of failure to light.  Most newer  furnaces (last 20 years) have a diagnosis light on the control board to let you know the general failure.  This one was a code 34  failure to light.  Upon checking the furnace we found that all the burners lit just fine but the sensor was not sensing that they were  lit.  When this happens the burners run for 8 seconds then go out.  It will repeat this 3 times and then go into a lock out mode.  To  fix this issue we needed to clean the flame sensor.  On this furnace repair Boise Id the furnace was in the laundry room, and we  discovered that fabric softeners coat the sensor with material making it hard to sense the flame.  We cleaned the flame sensor  with a light grit sand paper and put it back together.  This furnace repair Boise Id is all fixed.  This is not the only  problem that can occur when you get a code 34.

Other causes

Failure to light can also be a bad ignitor, shorted flame sensor, bad gas valve, bad control board just to name a few.  However this is the most common issue for that code.  If you experience a failure to light code on a furnace repair Boise Id this may be your issue.  For all your heating and cooling needs acRepairBoise.com is here to help you through them.  Visit our other blog posts and web page.  Be sure to like us on face book for money saving coupons and other tips about your system.  Call us anytime for      more information or to book a service call or cleaning.  208 898-9888

cleaned and installed flame sensor

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furnace repair Boise – cracked heat exchanger

Furnace Repair Boise – cracked heat exchanger

This and every blog that follows is designed to help you the homeowner better understand your HVAC system. How it works and what it takes to keep it running well.  Today we are going to talk about a furnace repair that occurred concerning a cracked heat exchanger.  The home owner had been told her heat exchanger was cracked and she needed a new furnace.

Furnace repair Boise straight talk

So first off lets talk about what is a heat exchanger?  Your heat exchanger is a chamber where the gas from your furnace burns to create heat.  It separates the burning gas from the air in your home.  The house air goes around the cells to pick up the heat to deliver it to your home.  When a hole or crack is created then carbon monoxide can leak into the air stream and into your home.  This is bad since carbon monoxide is poisonous and has no smell or color.  Also a crack can cause your furnace to catch on fire by pushing the flames outwards into your furnace.  Heat exchangers CAN NOT be repaired!  They must either be replaced or replace the furnace.  Since most of the time the heat exchangers cost more than the furnace itself, the end result is to replace the furnace.

Furnace Warranty

However, on this furnace repair Boise, the heat exchangers had a 20 year warranty.  The other company failed to tell her this.  Lucky for her she contacted us.  We were able to get a new heat exchanger at no cost to her.  All she paid was $350 to install the new one.  Now she has a good running furnace and it didn’t cost an arm or a leg.  So this furnace repair Boise worked out pretty well.  In addition we recommended she purchase and install at least (1) CO detector to help alert her in the case of a CO leak.  These can be purchased from us or your local hardware store.  It is important when dealing with any repair company, to ask questions and understand what is wrong and what the options might be.

Your money, your way

It is your money, get the answers you want before you spend it!  This has been an ac repair Boise blog about furnace repair Boise – heat exchangers.  Look for other helpful blogs soon, and for all of your heating and air conditioning needs call the experts at AC REPAIR BOISE.

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