What Does Your Furnace's Heat Exchanger Do?
Your gas furnace has many important components that help it to keep your home warm and comfortable, but perhaps one of the most important is the heat exchanger. This vital piece of equipment is not only responsible for heating the air that is distributed to your home, but it is also responsible for keeping you safe from the harmful gases generated by your furnace. Keep reading to learn more about this vital part of your furnace and why it is important to regularly inspect and repair it as needed.
Your Furnace Doesn't Directly Heat the Air
It is a somewhat common misconception that your furnace burns gas to directly heat your home's air, but nothing could be further from the truth. When your furnace burns gas, it creates dangerous combustion byproducts that are not safe to breathe. These exhaust fumes need to be released to the outside atmosphere, but simply dumping the exhaust (which also contains all of the heat created by combustion) would defeat the purpose of running the furnace. After all, the goal is to capture that heat and use it to keep your home at a comfortable temperature.
This is where the heat exchanger comes into play. The purpose of a heat exchanger is to take the heat contained in the exhaust gases and safely transfer it to clean air that can be distributed to the rooms in your house.
Despite its importance, the heat exchanger is a fairly simple device. In most cases, it is simply a series of metal tubes that exhaust gases pass through. As hot exhaust gases are passing through the heat exchanger, your blower motor pushes cool air across its surface. The metal conducts the heat from the safely contained exhaust to the clean air, warming it up and ultimately providing heat to your home.
Can Heat Exchangers Fail?
Despite their simplicity, it is entirely possible for your heat exchanger to fail. Your heat exchanger goes through many heating and cooling cycles as the furnace runs, shuts off, and runs again. This causes the metal of the heat exchanger to expand and contract, and over time this can lead to cracks or other failures.
While it is uncommon for newer heat exchangers to develop issues, older furnaces are almost guaranteed to develop problems with their heat exchangers eventually. A heat exchanger that is ten or more years old should be inspected regularly.
The Signs and Symptoms of a Failing Heat Exchanger
There are few warning signs that a heat exchanger has failed. It is possible that you will smell combustion products coming through your vents, but often there is no odor associated with the failure despite toxic gases making their way into your home. These gases can cause a variety of physical symptoms, including eye irritation or illnesses that resemble a cold or flu.
Because a failing heat exchanger is so dangerous and because the symptoms may be subtle, regular furnace inspections should be a routine part of your HVAC maintenance routine. For more information, contact a contractor who offers heating maintenance services.