Can a heat exchanger be replaced or repaired on a gas furnace?

wrote:
Can a heat exchanger be replaced or repaired on a gas furnace?

Hi,
I never heard they repair it but you can have it replaced.
If the furnace is quite old, maybe time to think upgrading.

On Sun, 10 Mar 2013 19:46:17 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

Can a heat exchanger be replaced or repaired on a gas furnace?


Sure. Given it is old enough to rot or burn out, it is probably more
sensible to upgrade to a much more efficient unit. It will save a
bundle of money in the long run.

Sure, it's possible. When I worked for Sears (briefly so) my trainer and I
did several heat exchanger replacements.

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
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" wrote in message
...
Can a heat exchanger be replaced or repaired on a gas furnace?

It's like so many other things... it's possible to replace a furnace heat exchanger, but that's not an economic alternative. The cost will be close to that of replacing the whole furnace, and everything else in that furnace is 15 to 20 years old and can go at any time. So, better to spend more and get a new high efficiency furnace rather than keep the old one alive only to have to spend more on repairs as it gets still older.

Note that if you get a high efficiency "condensing" furnace, that means that so much heat will be taken out of the flue gas that it won't rise up your chimney any more AND corrosive condensate will precipitate out of that flue gas. So, typically, the flue from a condensing furnace will just be vented out a side wall with a blower blowing the flue gas out and drawing fresh air in.

Also, some jurisdictions require that the condensate from high efficiency boilers, furnaces and water heaters be treated before being dumped into the sewer. That means you have to buy or build a pH neutralizing filter to neutralize the corrosive condensate, and that's not hard to do. There's a company in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan called Axiom Industries that provides the filter media for $40 for a 40 pound box. It's called NMD-25, and it works very well at neutralizing corrosive condensate providing your filter is large enough. It's most common to just run the condensate through the filter and into a sump pit, and then let the sump pump pump it out along with any ground water in the sump pit.

On 3/11/2013 11:38 AM, nestork wrote:
It's like so many other things... it's possible to replace a furnace
heat exchanger, but that's not an economic alternative. The cost will
be close to that of replacing the whole furnace, and everything else in
that furnace is 15 to 20 years old and can go at any time. So, better
to spend more and get a new high efficiency furnace rather than keep the
old one alive only to have to spend more on repairs as it gets still
older.

Note that if you get a high efficiency "condensing" furnace, that means
that so much heat will be taken out of the flue gas that it won't rise
up your chimney any more AND corrosive condensate will precipitate out
of that flue gas. So, typically, the flue from a condensing furnace
will just be vented out a side wall with a blower blowing the flue gas
out and drawing fresh air in.

Also, some jurisdictions require that the condensate from high
efficiency boilers, furnaces and water heaters be treated before being
dumped into the sewer. That means you have to buy or build a pH
neutralizing filter to neutralize the corrosive condensate, and that's
not hard to do. There's a company in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan called
Axiom Industries that provides the filter media for $40 for a 40 pound
box. It's called NMD-25, and it works very well at neutralizing
corrosive condensate providing your filter is large enough. It's most
common to just run the condensate through the filter and into a sump
pit, and then let the sump pump pump it out along with any ground water
in the sump pit.





I had a $600 control board fail on a 14 year gas old furnance and
instead of replacing the board elected to go with a brand new and here
are the results:

80% to 96% effeciency, which is $25 dollars a month in winter in gas
savings(Canada) from what I can see in my bills (1800 square foot home)

$650 in government refunds for replacing old furnance with new high
effiecency

$250 government refund for installing a variable speed blower fan.

Variable speed blower appears to be saving $1 a day in Air conditionting
costs (June July August usages)


Just some things for the OP to consider.

Yes, between the gas company, the provincial government and the federal government, there are lots of incentives to upgrade to a high efficiency boiler, furnace or water heater.

However, lemme comment on that $600 board in your old furnace. My guess is that you could have bought that board online for well under $600.

My experience with my two high efficiency Weil McLain boilers is that the parts needed to repair them are prohibitively expensive if purchased locally. If you mail order them from either Pex Supply (which doesn't ship to Canada any more) or Patriot Supply (which still does) the cost of those parts will be 20 to 30 percent of what you'd have to pay locally for them.

Here's some examples:

1. The blower motor on one of my boilers crapped out when it was still under it's 5 year warranty. I found out the plumbing wholesaler that supplied the replacement normally charged $1650 for that part. So, when my two boilers went off their warranty a coupla years ago, I ordered a spare blower motor from Pex Supply for $550 or so.

2. The ignition electrode kit for my two Weil McLaine Ultra 310's cost about $80 each at my local plumbing & heating wholesaler. I've bought a total of 5 spares for between $12 and $14 each from Pex and Patriot Supply over the past 3 years or so. This part is like a spark plug in that it actually ignites the gas every time the boiler fires up, and so it needs to be changed more requently than other parts. Still, I've gotten over 7 years service so far from the original ignition electrodes and still counting.

3. I had to change a water temperature sensor just this past winter on one of the boilers. I bought it for $48 plus sales taxes at my local wholesaler. I now have three spares purchased from Patriot Supply for about $12 each. This was a few months ago, so I forget the actual price, but I paid (with taxes) over $50 locally, and both Pex and Patriot sell them for under $15 each.

What you SHOULD do is phone up some of the local plumbing and heating contractors that sell your brand of furnace, and ask them which parts are the most common to need replacing on your model, and then compare the price you can buy those parts for locally and online. (Your owner's manual should give you the part numbers of each part) That way, you can avoid being gouged for the cost of repair parts should anything go wrong with your furnace.

A control board for my Weil McLain Ultra 310's costs over $1200 at my local wholesaler, and I bought a spare for under $400 from Pex Supply a few years ago. I want to keep a stock of the most expensive and most commonly needed parts so that I can avoid having to pay exhorbitant prices if I need the repair part in a hurry. Where I live, going without heat for a few days in winter is not an option... I have to get the heat back on ASAP regardless of cost. Both the plumbing wholesaler and the heating company doing the work know the situation I'm in, and so they set their prices accordingly. If the heating contractor buys something from the wholesaler for $1, he turns around and sells it to me for $2. So, if I'd had to hire a heating contractor to replace that blower motor, the part alone woulda cost me over $3200.

Maybe find out what part on your furnace actually ignites the gas cuz that part will be likely to need replacement more often than parts that don't get really hot and cool down several times per day AND that's one of the parts you'd want to keep a spare one of anyhow. Compare the cost of that part purchased locally and online at Pex or Patriot Supply.

I also broker my shipments from the US across the border myself to save the brokerage fees that UPS and Purolator charge to do that for me. That saves me anywhere from $10 to $50 on each shipment, depending on the value of the shipment.

On Mon, 11 Mar 2013 07:28:54 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On Sun, 10 Mar 2013 19:46:17 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

Can a heat exchanger be replaced or repaired on a gas furnace?


Sure. Given it is old enough to rot or burn out, it is probably more
sensible to upgrade to a much more efficient unit. It will save a
bundle of money in the long run.
There were some furnaces where the heat exchanger failed early - and
replacing would be an effective and sensible repair. In most cases
though, replacing the entire furnace would make more sense.

wrote:
On Mon, 11 Mar 2013 07:28:54 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On Sun, 10 Mar 2013 19:46:17 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

Can a heat exchanger be replaced or repaired on a gas furnace?


Sure. Given it is old enough to rot or burn out, it is probably more
sensible to upgrade to a much more efficient unit. It will save a
bundle of money in the long run.
There were some furnaces where the heat exchanger failed early - and
replacing would be an effective and sensible repair. In most cases
though, replacing the entire furnace would make more sense.

I remember one failing when i Was young. It was under warranty. Must have
been a 10 year warranty, back in the 60's.

Greg

On Sun, 17 Mar 2013 22:16:43 -0400, wrote in
Re Gas furnace:

On Mon, 11 Mar 2013 07:28:54 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On Sun, 10 Mar 2013 19:46:17 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

Can a heat exchanger be replaced or repaired on a gas furnace?


Sure. Given it is old enough to rot or burn out, it is probably more
sensible to upgrade to a much more efficient unit. It will save a
bundle of money in the long run.
There were some furnaces where the heat exchanger failed early - and
replacing would be an effective and sensible repair. In most cases
though, replacing the entire furnace would make more sense.

If I had a furnace where the heat exchanger failed early (but not
still under warranty), I would not want to spend money to replace and
thus continue with a manufacturer with a proven significant design
failure.

On Sunday, March 10, 2013 10:46:17 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Can a heat exchanger be replaced or repaired on a gas furnace?

It's not often worth it. Unless the furnace was very young. Even warranty seldom covers the labor. On most furnaces you parctically have to tear the entire thing apart to get at the heat exchanger. So the labor is high. Doubtful that anyone would repair because of the liability.

On Mon, 18 Mar 2013 04:39:43 -0500, CRNG
wrote:

On Sun, 17 Mar 2013 22:16:43 -0400, wrote in
Re Gas furnace:

On Mon, 11 Mar 2013 07:28:54 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On Sun, 10 Mar 2013 19:46:17 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

Can a heat exchanger be replaced or repaired on a gas furnace?


Sure. Given it is old enough to rot or burn out, it is probably more
sensible to upgrade to a much more efficient unit. It will save a
bundle of money in the long run.
There were some furnaces where the heat exchanger failed early - and
replacing would be an effective and sensible repair. In most cases
though, replacing the entire furnace would make more sense.

If I had a furnace where the heat exchanger failed early (but not
still under warranty), I would not want to spend money to replace and
thus continue with a manufacturer with a proven significant design
failure.
Sometimes the replacements were a modified/improved unit.

On Mar 18, 10:57*am, jamesgang wrote:
On Sunday, March 10, 2013 10:46:17 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Can a heat exchanger be replaced or repaired on a gas furnace?

It's not often worth it. *Unless the furnace was very young. *Even warranty seldom covers the labor. *On most furnaces you parctically have to tear the entire thing apart to get at the heat exchanger. *So the labor is high. *Doubtful that anyone would repair because of the liability.

I agree. Can it be done and does it make any sense
are two different things. The eqpt cost for a new high
efficiency furnace can be as little as $1000. And I would
think the labor of getting that heat exchanger out and a
new one back in could be the same or more than putting in
a new, drop-in replacement furnace.

In the 1990's, my Sears (Heil) 94% efficiency condensing gas furnace had
a factory recall requiring the replacement of the heat exchanger.

Sears sent out 2 guys with a new heat exchanger and the job was
completed in about an hour from start to finish. The furnace had to be
removed from the plenum and return ducts, and the connecting gas pipe
and PVC exhaust had to be unconnected and reconnected, in addition to
the internal baffles, secondary heat exchanger, wiring and other stuff.

I was totally amazed at how quickly they did the job. It was part of a
large recall so I will assume they were very familiar with all aspects
of the job before they arrived, since they had presumably done many
other recalled units before they did mine.

At that time, the furnace was 8 years old roughly, originally cost $1900
installed, and the heat exchanger replacement would have been about a
$1200 replacement if it were billed to the homeowner.

Hope this helps.

Smarty



On 3/18/2013 2:53 PM, wrote:
On Mar 18, 10:57 am, jamesgang wrote:
On Sunday, March 10, 2013 10:46:17 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Can a heat exchanger be replaced or repaired on a gas furnace?
It's not often worth it. Unless the furnace was very young. Even warranty seldom covers the labor. On most furnaces you parctically have to tear the entire thing apart to get at the heat exchanger. So the labor is high. Doubtful that anyone would repair because of the liability.
I agree. Can it be done and does it make any sense
are two different things. The eqpt cost for a new high
efficiency furnace can be as little as $1000. And I would
think the labor of getting that heat exchanger out and a
new one back in could be the same or more than putting in
a new, drop-in replacement furnace.