Furnace disection (don't try this at home !!)

Originally Posted By: gbeaumont
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Hi to all,


Now I know, that this is going to be concidered by some to be beyond the scope of a home inspector but I personally section every furnace that I look at, there is no other way in most cases to find a cracked heat exchanger. frankley taking it apart is not the issue, it's welding up the cracks and putting it back together that's the problem, especially when you still have a hand full of components left over and the listing agent has a worried look on their face. 

This is a 1993 Goodman forced hot air by gas (and it's upside down).  kinda the proctologists view   


this is the patient being prep'd for surgery !!

this is the view of the heat exchanger

This is the gas manifold, and burner assembley

This is a view into the exchanger showing rust and debris.

Finally I have pulled the exchanger (this took several 6-packs) notice the rust and debris again, and that was not the problem 

this is a pre-sawzall shot of the complete exchanger (hint: look into the airspace between the pannels)

this is a pic (after seperating the units) of one of the elements. Notice the loss of metal around the 'pressed in rivets" (for want of a better word !!)

and here is a close up of one of the "holes" every pannel had about the same issue.

here is a more typical exchanger crack, note the area where the pressing is swaged out for the manifold:

OK, so why did this fail after only 11 years ??

talk about it amongst yourselves, my nurse had just arrived to give me my medication, and put me back in that nice jacket with the long arms that do up at the back, so I don't hurt myself !!!!

Next week I plan to do a show and tell on the subject of Salisbury Massachusetts nuclear plant, (But I need new sawzall blades first !!!)

Regards

Gerry (get a life) Beaumont

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Gerry Beaumont
NACHI Education Committee
e-mail : education@nachi.org
NACHI phone 484-429-5466

Inspection Depot Education
gbeaumont@inspectiondepot.com

"Education is a journey, not a destination"

Originally Posted By: Bob Badger
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gbeaumont wrote:

Next week I plan to do a show and tell on the subject of Salisbury Massachusetts nuclear plant, (But I need new sawzall blades first !!!)

Hey Gerry can you make sure you get that cleaned up before summer, I like to take the family to Hampton Beach and high radiation levels really ruin the day. 

Bob

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Bob (AKA iwire)
ECN Discussion Forums
Mike Holt Code Forum

Originally Posted By: gbeaumont
This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.

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Hi Bob,


I'll try but look at it this way everybody there this summer will glow in the dark !!!

NEAT   

BTW: we are close by give me a call

Gerry

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Gerry Beaumont
NACHI Education Committee
e-mail : education@nachi.org
NACHI phone 484-429-5466

Inspection Depot Education
gbeaumont@inspectiondepot.com

"Education is a journey, not a destination"

Originally Posted By: dbowers
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The little rings is a very common place for heat exchangers to fail, similar to the “buttons” on older units pulling apart and putting a hole in the heat exchanger. The buttons were where the sections of HE were merged in the wall fields. Most borescopes can spot this or so can doing a spray test from the A-Coil down. Sometimes if you swing out the blower motor assemby and turn out the light in a room and put a small lite in the HE cells you can see this. Beyond the ability of normal HI’s.


The better HI's do this type of testing all the time. But then thats why their average home inspection takes 2.5 days and costs $2,450.

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Originally Posted By: Blaine Wiley
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better?

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