A heat exchanger is a device in an HVAC system that transfers thermal energy from one medium to another. A heat exchanger helps with the heating and cooling of your home. As heat exchanger is used in both air conditioner and a furnace, you need the heat exchanger to work efficiently to operate your HVAC system without any hindrance. But a heat exchanger can crack, and there can be a number of reasons behind it.
Why does a Heat Exchanger Crack?
Generally, heat exchanger cracks because of its age, but there are other reasons. One of them is bad furnace management. In an average winter, a furnace is turned on and turned off about more than 3000 times. From this, we can estimate the usage of heat furnace in winter, and if the heating furnace is not taken care of well, there’s a high possibility that the heat exchanger of the furnace will crack. You’ll need to clean and check your heat furnace’s health regularly in order to have a functioning heat exchanger in your furnace HVAC system.
A crack in the heat exchanger will prevent the heat furnace from working. As a result, you’ll suffer in the extreme winter of Dallas. Also, when your heat exchanger is cracked, your furnace will produce toxic gases like Carbon Monoxide and Nitrous Oxide, which can have adverse effects on your health. Besides, because of these gases, your house can set on fire.
Now, I’ll tell you how to identify whether you have a cracked heat exchanger or not.
Ways to Identify a Cracked Heat Exchanger
1. Physical Symptoms
To identify a cracked heat exchanger, you will need to look at the physical symptoms of your family members at first. When there’s a crack in the heat exchanger, your furnace will produce Carbon Monoxide and Nitrous Oxide. As a result, your wife or your children will be having headaches and flu-like symptoms. You may also face sleepiness, nose and ear irritations, nausea, disorientation, etc. If you and your family face these problems, there’s a high chance that the heat exchanger of your furnace is cracked.
Many houses in Dallas have a carbon monoxide detector in their house. So, if there’s a crack in the heat exchanger, the detector will start indicating, and you will be able to know what to do next. The authority of Dallas is very strict about the emission of CO and NO2. So, you must be careful about it, and also these gases are very harmful. Long exposure to these gases can cause you cancer.
2. Acidic Smell Coming Out of the HVAC System
When a heat exchanger is cracked, it creates a bad odor, and that is similar to formaldehyde. The strong smell will give you headaches and other unpleasant symptoms. So, if you smell anything similar to formaldehyde, you should assume that your heat exchanger is cracked.
3. Water on the Floor of Your House
There can be many reasons for noticing water on the floor of your house. But most of the time, homeowners think that it is because of the condenser, which isn’t true always. You can notice water on the floor when you have a cracked heat exchanger. Yes, you’ll notice water because of a bad condenser, but most of the time, it’ll be because of the cracked heat exchanger. However, if you’re still confused about the root cause of the problem, you can call an HVAC professional to identify it.
Now, I’ll tell you what to do when you have a cracked heat exchanger in Dallas.
Ways to Deal with a Cracked Heat Exchanger in Dallas
When you have a cracked heat exchanger, you have two ways. One is to change the heat furnace system entirely. Another is to change a few parts of the heating furnace. Replacing the parts of the heat exchanger sometimes is very costly, and it depends on the system. So, it is better to replace the entire furnace. You can consult with HVAC experts in Dallas about what to do and what not to do when you have a cracked heat exchanger. HVAC professionals of Dallas are one of the best in the US, and you can rely on them to fix up your HVAC components like a heat exchanger.
See the summary of this content here – 3 Ways to Identify a Cracked Heat Exchanger [Infographic]
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