Thayer Air Conditioning Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Gas Furnace’

Why Are Cracked Heat Exchangers Serious Problems for Gas Furnaces?

Monday, December 12th, 2022
furnace-burners-small

You may have heard about “cracked heat exchangers” in gas furnaces as one of the major problems these heating systems can have. What does this mean, and how can you protect yourself from it? Below, we’ll look into the problem of a cracked heat exchanger.

The Heat Exchanger Itself

You may not know what a heat exchanger is to begin with, so we’ll start there. The heat exchanger is the component in a gas furnace that does the direct heating of the air that moves into the ductwork. The heat from the gas burners can’t come into direct contact with the air because of the combustion gas, so the heat exchanger serves as the intermediate step. The hot combustion gas from the burners collects inside the metal chambers of the heat exchanger and raises the temperature of the metal. The blower then sends air around the exchanger and the heat transfers from the metal surface to the air. Once the heating cycle is complete, the remaining combustion gas in the exchanger exits the furnace and the house through a flue.

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Can I Repair My Failed Gas Furnace on My Own?

Monday, March 7th, 2022
service-technician-testing-furnace

Heating is an essential part to the overall livability of a home, and is thus a top priority for many homeowners. In this way, it’s also something that many individuals approach with great urgency upon the need for repair.

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Why Does My Furnace Turn On and Off So Often?

Monday, January 25th, 2021
furnace-isolated-white

During our mild winter months when you run the furnace to keep your household warm, you’ll become used to a standard pattern for how the HVAC system turns on and off. You’ll hear the blower fan come on, then the furnace burners ignite, and the rush of heated air pushed through the ductwork. After fifteen minutes or more, the furnace will then start cycling down, turning off the burners and eventually the fan. When the temperature begins to fall below the setting on the thermostat, the HVAC system will begin another heating cycle.

This is the normal behavior you’re used to from the furnace and probably don’t pay much attention to it. But if the furnace breaks this pattern and begins to turn on and off with greater frequency, you may notice. And then you may wonder: is this a problem?

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The Biggest Gas Furnace Worry: A Cracked Heat Exchanger

Monday, November 30th, 2020
gas-energy-flames

Gas furnaces are one of the best ways to provide comfort to a home during any winter season. They are reliable, work fast at delivering heat, and are powerful enough to help drafty and poorly insulated homes get through cold days.

Homeowners sometimes have worries about the safety of using a gas furnace. But if gas furnaces were inherently dangerous, they wouldn’t be permitted in homes at all—and they certainly wouldn’t be the number type of heating system in the country. The modern gas furnace is built with numerous safety precautions. If you make sure to keep up with regular maintenance and prompt furnace repair in San Antonio, TX when necessary, you shouldn’t have to worry about your gas furnace posing any hazards. 

However … we do need to talk about one concern: the cracked heat exchanger.

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A Furnace Spring Retirement Plan

Monday, March 9th, 2020
Gas-Furnace

Winter is coming to an end, and soon you won’t need the furnace in your house running at all. Not until late fall. But perhaps that furnace should never run again because this is the spring for it to retire and go into the recycling heap. Because furnaces don’t receive as much use as air conditioners in Texas, people often let older furnaces linger on when they should have replaced them years ago.

We’re going to help you understand if this is the spring to plan a furnace retirement (no, you don’t have to throw it a party) and arrange for new furnace installation in New Braunfels, TX.

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How an Old Furnace Can Be Bad News

Monday, January 13th, 2020
furnace-old

No matter how much you would like the current furnace in your home to be the only one you’ll ever need, eventually, a time will come when continuing to have it repaired and maintained is throwing money away. There are several warning signs about a furnace that’s over-the-hill, but the easiest metric is its age. (If you don’t know the furnace’s manufacture date, check on the metal plate on the unit.)

The age when a furnace is considered “old” is 15 years, although well-cared-for units sometimes make it to 20 years. We recommend you give serious consideration to replacing a furnace that’s older than 15. Below are the reasons an older furnace can be a problem.

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Fix Your Own Gas Furnace? Please Don’t Try It!

Monday, December 30th, 2019
service-technician-testing-furnace

We live in an age of the “do-it-yourselfer.” You only need to type a few words into a search engine about any project you’re considering taking on, and you’ll be zapped to a set of videos offering to show you how you can do it.

But there’s a big difference between a video telling you that you can do something and whether you can actually do it. Would you trust DIY instructions on how to fly a plane? Perform heart surgery? Of course, you wouldn’t. And you shouldn’t trust DIY instructions for when it comes to fixing a broken gas furnace. We know it’s tempting to attempt to save money by tackling a faulty heating system on your own. But you absolutely shouldn’t.

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Should You Replace Your Furnace Before the New Year?

Monday, December 2nd, 2019
basement-furnace

Because we don’t have to deal with severe winters in Texas, having major repairs or upgrades to a heating system can sometimes wait until late in the year. There usually isn’t a fall rush to have a furnace replacement in New Braunfels, TX. However, if you think that you need to have a new furnace installed for your home, it’s best to have it done before the start of the new year.  January is when we’ll have our coldest days, and you’ll feel much more relaxed knowing you have a fresh and reliable new heating system ready to get to work when it’s needed.

We understand that nobody wants to pay to replace a heating system if it’s unnecessary, so we’ll look at the big question involved in furnace installation: Is it really time for a new furnace?

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Only Allow a Professional HVAC Contractor to Help With Your Heating

Monday, November 18th, 2019
heating-element

The winter nights and early mornings in Greater New Braunfels may not reach the bone-freezing colds of, say, Minnesota, but they’re still cold. When the temperature drops into the 40s and upper 30s, you won’t want your house to be without a reliable heating system.

Because homes don’t use their heaters as much as their air conditioners here, people are less likely to look to an HVAC contractor in Schertz, TX when they need heating assistance. They either shrug it off and put on a jacket indoors or they rely on an amateur “handyperson” to swing by and tinker with the furnace or another system to see if they can get it back in line. Maybe hitting the cabinet a few times will get it working again, who knows?

Well … we know. If you have a central heating system, anything more complex than a space heater, you cannot handle any standard service for it: installation, replacement, repair, or maintenance. You must leave it to an experienced contractor with the proper licensing and certifications, as well as the best experience and tools. There are some good reasons why:

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