Please Help! My furnace has problems!

[sjbcarlsson]

First off, I don't know much at all about this - furnaces. I have a 3 year old Carrier Weathermaker that is emmiting CO. I had one guy come look at it - -he said it was corrosion on the heat exchanger. How does that happen in only 3 years! He said they could fix it for. It seemed to me like he wasn't 100% sure that the CO was coming from there. He was running all over the house testing everything, some things twice for an hour or so.

I have a CO detector on the lower and upper level (split level) should I not have one on the lower level? I thought I read that on the forum. What should I do next? This CO problem was supposed to be fixed when I moved in 2 years ago (one year after the furnace was installed it was immiting CO and they had it fixed before I moved in).

Should I bite the bullet and have the heat exchanger replaced? Why is a brand new furnace doing this?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.


Pricing Forum Rules (http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?threadid=1241)



[Edited by lusker on 10-11-2005 at 05:37 PM]

[Mr Bill]

Well, I personally think "all" those CO detectors are way to sensitive and they will end up helping us sell thousands of unnecessary furnace change outs, if you have a crack there are other more primitive ways to find one starting with an ultraviolet system checker or just a good old fashion flashlight with a person on the other end of it that has a will to look for a crack, get a second opinion or third.

[Edited by mrbillpro on 10-11-2005 at 05:04 PM]

[Jultzya]

They need to detect WHERE the problem is coming from with a CO detector.

Then you will know what appliance the problem is coming from. Then diagnose and repair the problems with that appliance.

[davidr]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mrbillpro
[B]Well, I personally think "all" those CO detectors are way to sensitive.

[Edited by davidr on 10-11-2005 at 05:37 PM]

[davidr]

Originally posted by mrbillpro
[B]Well, I personally think "all" those CO detectors are way to sensitive.

[B]

I really hope you were being sarcastic with this comment.

Jultzya hit the nail on the head find the source of the CO & fix it,don't start blaming components with no diagnostic testing to back it up.

[tinknocker service tech]

i think you need to find a differant contractor or have this one send a differant guy with more experience under his belt
if and i say if the heatexchanger is cracked this early in the unit life there is a reason and if the reason is not found you will be doing this again in three years. there are many reasons for co2 and it is easy to blame the heatexchanger as the cause. even if you choose to replace the furnace altogether the under laying problem is still there. have them find the cause and rectify it before waisting money on the problem it cause

[Mr HVAC41]

have a guy look at the hx. i have an upflow furnace and i look down at the top of the hx with a drop light and a mirror. i works great. you can see most of the hx. i have less than a year in the field and even i can find a crack in the hx! if your guy cant find a crack, then there are problems. i never really liked carrier either but thats just me. and we all know who carriers subsidiary is dont we jultzya!

[wayner211]

I agree. You need to have another company come and check all of your appliances with a CO detector. Another interesting thing too. I dont know if you have a boat or any other type of marine equipment but, if you are charging the batteries any where in the house such as the garage and your furnace sits in the garage also it will make your store bought CO detectors go off. That may sound stupid as can be but it is true. I have experienced this situation myself personally when I first started in the trade. I've been doing HVAC for 8 years now and love it. Hope this helps

[Mr HVAC41]

Originally posted by sjbcarlsson
First off, I have a 3 year old Carrier Weathermaker.

theres the problem

[wayner211]

Where's the problem MrHVAC???????

[Steve Wiggins]

The furnace busted due to homeowner air flter neglect.

Can you tell us what kind of air filters you use (washable or throw away?) and how often you change them?

[drk]

What co#'s were you geting

[davidr]

Originally posted by wayner211


I dont know if you have a boat or any other type of marine equipment but, if you are charging the batteries any where in the house such as the garage and your furnace sits in the garage also it will make your store bought CO detectors go off.




This is due to the sensors in most UL rated alarms being cross sensitive to other chemicals.

Hydrogen is produced when charging batteries & will register as CO to a sensor that is not hydrogen compensated.

I would still recommend having a combustion test & draft test at the minimum to rule out any fuel burning appliances.

[2hot2coolme]

Hmmmm,

No reply from poster....hope the CO did'nt have anything to do with that :eek:

[Mr HVAC41]

Originally posted by wayner211
Where's the problem MrHVAC???????

Carrier

[lonnirat]

Originally posted by mr hvac41

Originally posted by wayner211
Where's the problem MrHVAC???????

Carrier

Is that what you are going to tell a paying customer? That is just a stupid reply.

[Edited by lonnirat on 10-12-2005 at 10:28 PM]

[Mr HVAC41]

not in person. it twas meant as a joke. icp is a subsidiary of carrier from what i thought and the joke was meant for jultzya.

[camron]

HAVE A CONTRACTOR WITH A INFARED INSPECTION CAMERA TEST THE HEAT EXCHANGER. AND CHECK STATIC PRESSURE TO DETERMINE PREMATURE FAILURE IF OVER .5 IN. W.C. HAVE DUCTING REPAIRED.