My hot air furnace broke over the weekend. Its a 5 year old luxaire high efficiency unit. 98% i believe.

Called the company who installed it and they want either $2500 to fix it or $3000 to replace it wit ha 95% system.

The issue as I saw it was that the furnace was starting and stopping repeatedly. It was not heating. The guy came in an saw some burnt wires. Tried to replace the igniter. Then asked if I had any power outages recently. I told them that nothing unusual had happened. Then let the furnace run and noted that it did not lockout after restarting three times. He also noted that the motor was making a sound it shouldn't be. He said the main board must be bad because it should lockout. They said they would call me today.

So I got the call and they said nothing was under warranty and I should install a new luxaire. I told them I can't afford a furnace every 5 years, why would I buy another one??

So I guess I got ripped off 5 years ago and now the guy wants to rip me off again. Thinking I would make the same dumb mistake.

So I want to know why it would take $2500 to fix a furnace? Are luxaire parts that expensive? Where can I lookup the parts I need? Is there warranty worthless? And is there a better brand I should go with if I chose to replace the system?

It's also matched up to my AC unit, so I guess I would have to replace that also if I switched brands?

Here is some info on my AC/Furnace system.
Product: Split System: Air-Cooled Condensing Unit, Coil with Blower
Outdoor Unit Model Number: AL6B036F3
Indoor Unit Model Number: FC/MC/PC43B+TXV
Furnace Model Number: L*9C*B12 (It might be LP9C080C16MP11)
Manufacturer: LUXAIRE BY JOHNSON CONTROLS
Trade/Brand name: ACCLIMATE

 

Call a good company to come look at it.

 

don't think there is such a thing here in westchester ny as a good hvac company...

Anyhow the plot thickens..

Called a second company to take a look and the furnace turned on without any issues. He noted the burnt wires and recommended I do a maintenance and fix the wires for $500. In otherwords spend $500 now and still maybe have to replace the furnace later...
Since he can't diagnose the problem if its working. So I guess I am waiting now for the furnace to fail again to call them again and pay them for another visit and hope they can identify the problem correctly.

 

Replacing the heat exchanger might be the most expensive repair but even that would have a hard time getting to $2'500. And since that wasn't mentioned I would be cautious that they are just trying to sell you a new unit.

What are the burned wires you keep mentioning? Were they furnace wires or the electrical supply to the furnace?

 

I forgot the name of the wires.. maybe roll by wires? The second company said they are a safety feature in case a flame comes towards the front side of the unit. Made it sound like they are supposed to be burnt and it will turn off the unit? But that doesnt make sense to me because the unit was not turned off. Maybe the wires werent burnt enough.The first company cut them (two red wires) before the burnt part and tied them.
No idea if they were burnt before as I need look inside the unit. There was also no other visible burnt marks. Maybe a small flame got out and burnt them just a little? I'll get a picture.

 

I think you mean "roll out". And the wires connect to a thermal switch that would detect a flame and shut the unit down. The wires don't burn through.

 

If the first company cut the flame roll out wires and tied them together do not call them back. It sounds like they defeated an important safety device. If they have a license it should be pulled for doing something cheesy like that.

 

IF you had flame roll-out to the extent it burnt up wiring then you have MAJOR problems with that furnace OR a plugged exhaust flue. All of this needs to be investigated BEFORE placing it back in service.

 

Coming in a little late here but a picture or two couldn't hurt. http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...rt-images.html

 

Sorry about late response. Family and I got sick from the cold and was very busy. It's been 1/2 weeks since the incident and the furnace has not died again.

Any commentson whether I should pay $500 to fix the wiring and get a maintenance? Is maintenance worth that much?

I tried to upload the pictures here but it failed every time. So I used an image hosting site:








https://picoolio.net/image/l33
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I can edit the pics and circle things if it isn't clear what is what.

 

The wires that are totally cremated need to be replaced. Those that have only minor charring can be taped with electrical tape.

Do you want to do this yourself? It will cost around ten dollars for tools and maybe another five to ten dollars for the wire and terminals.

A routine maintenance call on that furnace really shouldn't be more than $200 in my opinion, maybe a bit less. Be wary of the coupon specials however that advertise a "safety check" for $49.95 or some ridiculous figure as they are almost always limited to visual inspections and charge through the nose for any work, including insane prices for a simple filter change.

 

I worked on a furnace this year that did some scary stuff similar to yours. The furnace running a long cycle would suddenly stop after about 15 minutes of running time. I suspected a low gas pressure condition since everything else seemed to check out okay control wise. With all my gas pressure gauges in place the gas pressure started to drop. Suddenly the flame shoots back to the spud and starts to roll out of the burners. Turns out the gas control was bad and would fail midway through the cycle. The gas control would slowly close before closing all of the way tight...the lower gas pressure velocity allows the flame to burn back at the orifice area, or back to the spud as we say.

The other bad possibility is a crack in a heat exchanger that gets bigger as the furnace warms up allowing air to blow the flames out into the vestibule area?

A draft inducer that slows down? Water backing up and losing draft?

I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving it running without first taking it all apart to see what's going on inside? Don't run it until the problem is rectified.

The next thing for you to do is to call the manufacturer to find out who can inspect it. I'm sure you will "peak" his interest when you tell him the wiring is catching on fire!