Hello All

This is not really a do it yourself question, unless folks here think this can be tackled as a do it yourself project. It's more of a technical/safety question.

I'm renting a carriage house with a Weil-McClain oil furnace with hot water heat through cast iron radiators (not steam).

The technician who came to clean the furnace two weeks ago says it has a cracked firebox (He used the term "heat exchanger," which I thought was used exclusively for air heating systems) He says the firebox should be replaced within weeks, or it could fail. I think he said "collapse."

If that happens, he said, the furnace likely will stop running. But even if it doesn't, he says, there's no safety issue. But he says a crack is causing the furnace to run inefficiently, and it could cause the furnace itself to wear out prematurely.

The landlady says she wants to call in someone else to verify there's a problem but hasn't yet. My question is, can this wait some or should I ask her to do this immediately,

Is there any danger here of fire or CO (My CO detector is reading zero right near the furnace.) The technician says oil furnaces don't produce carbon monoxide, which I think is wrong, but carbon dioxide. I'm thinking that if the firebox fails, it's likely the combustion by-prodcuts will go up the chimney nonetheless since there's no ventilation system, as with forced hot air. But I'm not sure.

What will/might happen if the firebox fails? Is this dangerous? Can the firebox itself be replaced? How much should that cost? Can this be a do it yourself project?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

 

Anthony, oil fired applicance CAN and DO produce CO ... you are correct to be skeptical about the techs misinformed statement. They do ALSO produce CO2 ...

Without seeing the unit in person, it's difficult to anwer your question ...

Boilers do have heat exchangers ... the area above the COMBUSTION CHAMBER is the exchanger ... a place for the hot flue gases to contact and transfer heat to the water ...

I suspect the technician was referring to the REFRACTORY material of high temp ceramic material that the burner fires into.

Keep in mind one thing ... ANYTHING you do to that system will make you liable in the event of a 'problem'. You don't own it, and my advice is not to touch it yourself (except the emergency switch of course!)

Your landlady has a legal obligation to provide safe conditions on the property that you rent. If you can not get action from her on this (she may be correct to want a 'second opinion'), you surely have recourse with your local officials ...

 

Thanks NJ Trooper. I appreciate the advice. I'm sure she'll take care of it. I just was concerned that something major could happen while I'm waiting for her to get someone.

Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

 

I think you'll be OK ... if it was that serious, the tech might have 'red tagged' the unit ...

Remain alert for any unusual behaviour / noises / odors / smoke / the usual stuff ... etc ... and just hit the big red switch if you need to ...

You said "my CO detector" ... does that imply that there's only one in the home ? I'd recommend a few more ... each level ... bedrooms , etc ...

Maybe offer to call around for her ? And get OKs before committing to spending her money ... or refer her to them ... you know, do the legwork ... maybe she's busy ? (aren't we all?)