Your heat exchanger plays a key role in warming or cooling your home, but its efficiency can degrade if it develops cracks. Overheating or wear and tear are some of the causes of a cracked heat exchanger. Here are four ways you can tell whether your heat exchanger in Luling, LA, has a crack.
A Yellow Furnace Flame
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that people spend 90% of their time indoors. You should make it a point of improving your home environment by keeping your furnace in good shape.
Under normal conditions, your furnace should produce a blue flame. This indicates that your heat exchanger is operating just fine, and there’s nothing to worry about. In contrast, if your furnace produces a yellow flame, it could mean your heat exchanger has a crack or the burner is dirty.
The Furnace Is Producing Soot
If your furnace is spewing a lot of soot, it could indicate incomplete combustion. This occurs when your furnace fails to burn gases completely.
The incomplete combustion could occur due to faulty burners or cracked heat exchangers. It’s advisable to contact a professional for heating service immediately because the problem could develop into a bigger one if a technician doesn’t get the chance to fix it in time.
The Furnace Emits an Unpleasant Smell
Have you noticed a formaldehyde-like smell coming from your furnace? This could be a sign of a cracked heat exchanger. The smell could even make you have severe headaches. Do not ignore the issue because you could be endangering your family’s health. Call an HVAC expert to come and fix your furnace.
The Furnace Has Cracked
Your furnace can crack when its components contract and expand during heating and cooling processes. When your furnace starts to show signs of wear and tear, there is a likelihood that your heat exchanger is also beginning to wear and starting to crack.
Timely servicing of your heat exchanger is important to keep your furnace from crashing or developing bigger problems. Contact us at Express Heating & Air Conditioning to learn more about our heating and air conditioning services.
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