Don't repair it!! You are just asking for trouble (or death!)

If it DOES have a crack, get at least 3 QUOTES (from 3 different companies)
and replace the furnace. Unless it is less than 10 years old, I wouldn't
bother just replacing the heat exchanger.....


"Romwar" wrote in message
...

Hello,

I had my oil furnace serviced yesterday by my oil comany. During the
servicing the nozzle and filter were replaced and the flue was cleaned.
After the repairman left I noticed a strong odor of oil in the heated
air which was not present before he worked on it and I thought this was
just from stirring things up in the furnace and flue and that it would
go away soon.

Well, next morning the smell was still very strong so I called and the
repairman came back for a look. When he looked he found a large crack
in the side of the combustion chamber. The chamber will cost $1500 to
replace according to this guy.

This left me feeling as though I'm being taken advantage of. Shouldn't
a crack in the combustion chamber been detected during the maintenace?
The crack was in a remote location, so I can understand how he would
not have seen it directly on his first visit, but he did take CO2,
stack temp, and draft measurements and I think this problem should have
been caught.

Now I know very little about oil furnaces, so I'm hoping I can get a
little advice or opinion on this situation. I still haven't decided if
I'm going to replace the combustion chamber. I was thinking I might be
able to epoxy the crack. I'd like to know if this is possible so that
I can save myself a lot of money. Of course, I need to be sure that
the solution is also safe.

Thanks


--
Romwar