I have a basement mounted wood furnace heating my home and when we
first purchased it the firebox had a two inch crack in the side which
actually exposed the burning chamber to the outside panel of the entire
unit. Obviously this was a safety hazard even though the furnace was
ran an entire year without anyone really knowing the extent of the
damage. To make the fix we used an arc-welder to close the crack and
it worked fine for another year (We have carbon monoxide detectors
downstairs and upstairs with no alerts ever going off) but I have been
since told that welding is not a suitable repair method and that the
entire unit should be condemned. The reputation of the service men
responsible for condemning it however is in question as it took them
four callbacks just to complete the actual cleaning that they were
called for and didn't even do it properly as they never even touched or
commented on the filthy air filter or duct system. Being in the army
I'm not home a lot and it was my wife that called the repairmen while I
was gone so I wasn't present when all this happened and I don't know
for sure the details of everything but what is sure is I can't afford
to replace the entire unit and we NEED heat. What can I do about this
and is welding really unsuitable for repairing a wood burning firebox?