The guy at ATCO told me my furnace was fine, 5 months later it died

Back in March a friend of mine who works for ATCO came over to look at my old Lennox furnace. He said it was running fine and just needed a filter change. Fast forward to last week and the thing just quit on me in the middle of a cold snap. Had to call Dependable Heating out to replace the whole unit for $4,200. Turns out the heat exchanger had a crack that he missed. I'm not mad at him because he was just being nice but now I'm wondering if I should have paid a certified HVAC guy for a proper inspection instead. Anyone else ever get bad advice from a friend who works in trades?

2 comments

2 Comments

sarah53117d ago

OH MAN, that STINKS. I actually just read a Consumer Reports thing a while back about how heat exchanger cracks are super easy to miss unless you're really looking for them with the right equipment. Like even legit HVAC guys can miss them if they don't do a proper combustion analysis or pull the burner compartment apart. Your buddy probably meant well but it's a different thing being a gas utility guy versus a dedicated furnace tech. Those Lennox units from the early 2000s had a known issue with crack-prone exchangers too, so it was kind of a ticking time bomb anyway. Hopefully the new one has a better warranty.

nora_dixon17d ago

Sarah that Consumer Reports piece was actually about heat exchangers from a few years later, not the early 2000s Lennox ones - but yeah, those older units were notorious for cracking once they got some age on them.