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Cracked heat exchanger inspection & replacement addresses serious safety risks and keeps your furnace operating safely. Professional CO testing, camera inspections, and honest assessments about repair vs. replacement.
The heat exchanger is the heart of your furnace - and the barrier between deadly combustion gases and the air you breathe.
Your furnace burns natural gas, creating hot combustion gases that contain carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and other byproducts. These gases flow inside the heat exchanger.
Clean air from your home blows over the outside of the heat exchanger, picking up heat without mixing with the combustion gases. The heated clean air then circulates through your home.
The metal heat exchanger wall separates these two airstreams. When it cracks, combustion gases can leak into your home's air supply.
Carbon monoxide is deadly. When a heat exchanger cracks, CO from combustion can mix with the air circulating through your home.
Carbon monoxide is colorless, odorless, and undetectable without a CO detector. Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, nausea, and confusion. Prolonged exposure can cause death.
This is not a repair to delay or ignore. A cracked heat exchanger is a life-threatening safety issue.
Heat exchangers fail due to repeated thermal stress, poor maintenance, or design flaws. Understanding the causes helps prevent future problems.
Heat exchangers expand when hot, contract when cool. After 15-25 years of heating cycles, metal fatigue causes cracks. This is normal wear - not a defect.
An oversized furnace heats quickly, shuts off, then restarts minutes later. This "short cycling" accelerates thermal stress, causing premature cracking.
Dirty filters restrict airflow, causing the heat exchanger to overheat. Neglected burners create soot buildup, corroding the metal from inside.
Proper heat exchanger inspection requires more than just looking for rust. We use multiple diagnostic methods to verify cracks.
We inspect accessible areas for visible cracks, rust patterns, soot deposits, and signs of overheating. This catches obvious failures.
We use a borescope camera to inspect inside the heat exchanger where cracks typically form. This reveals hidden damage that visual inspection misses.
We measure carbon monoxide levels in the flue gases and supply air. A pressure test checks for leaks between the combustion chamber and airstream.
Includes visual, camera, and CO testing
Inspection fee is waived if you proceed with replacement through us. We'll provide photos and test results showing exactly what we found.
There is no safe way to repair a cracked heat exchanger. Replacement is the only option.
Welding creates new stress points. The heat from welding can warp the metal and create additional cracks near the weld. The "repair" often fails within weeks.
Patches can't withstand the stress. Heat exchangers cycle between 140°F and 800°F. No patch adhesive or sealant can handle this temperature range safely.
One crack means more are coming. If the metal has cracked in one location, it's fatigued throughout. Other cracks will appear soon, even if you "fix" the first one.
Liability and code violations. No legitimate HVAC contractor will attempt to repair a cracked heat exchanger because it violates safety codes and exposes them to liability if someone gets sick or dies from CO poisoning.
Heat exchanger replacement is expensive labor. On older furnaces, you're often better off replacing the entire unit.
Labor is intensive because we have to disassemble the furnace to access and replace the heat exchanger, then reassemble and test everything.
Includes full warranty, higher efficiency, and 15-20 years of reliable service.
If your furnace is 15+ years old and the heat exchanger has failed, you're looking at spending $1,200-$2,500 to repair a furnace that may have other components failing soon (blower motor, inducer, control board).
For just $1,000-$2,500 more, you can get a brand new, more efficient furnace with a full warranty. Most of our customers in this situation choose replacement. We'll give you an honest assessment of whether your old furnace is worth saving.
Most manufacturers offer 10-20 year warranties on heat exchangers. But warranty coverage doesn't mean free replacement.
If your heat exchanger is under warranty (typically 10-20 years from install date), the manufacturer will provide a replacement part at no charge.
Part value: $600-$1,200 (covered by warranty)
Warranty does NOT cover the labor cost to remove the old heat exchanger, install the new one, and test the system. You pay for this work.
Labor cost: $600-$1,300 (you pay this)
Important: Even with warranty coverage on the part, you're still paying $600-$1,300 in labor. On an older furnace, new furnace replacement is often the smarter choice.
No. Cracked heat exchangers cannot be safely repaired - they must be replaced. Welding or patching creates additional stress points and cannot guarantee CO safety. Replacement is the only safe option.
$1,200-$2,500 total. Parts run $600-$1,200, labor is $600-$1,300 (4-8 hours of work). On furnaces 15+ years old, replacing the entire furnace ($3,000-$5,000) is often the better investment.
Very dangerous. A cracked heat exchanger can allow deadly carbon monoxide into your home's air. CO is colorless and odorless. Symptoms include headaches, nausea, dizziness. Prolonged exposure can be fatal. This is a serious safety issue.
Typically 15-25 years. Failure is caused by repeated thermal expansion/contraction cycles. Oversized furnaces that short-cycle and poorly maintained systems fail sooner.
Most have 10-20 year parts warranties. Warranty covers the part (saves you $600-$1,200) but NOT labor ($600-$1,300). You still pay significant cost even with warranty coverage.
If your furnace is 15+ years old, new furnace is usually the better choice. You'll spend $1,200-$2,500 on heat exchanger replacement, but for just $1,000-$2,500 more you get a brand new, more efficient furnace with full warranty and 15-20 more years of service.
Get a professional inspection with CO testing and camera scope. We'll give you an honest assessment and your best options.