Greg Hunsicker, developer of www.furnacesafetyconsultant.com, a Website that provides education on the dangers of poorly maintained furnaces and carbon monoxide (CO) dangers, spoke out on the need for training and education.

“As I talk with the companies using our training it is the heat exchanger failures that they are finding that are keeping them afloat with any retrofit and replacement work,” Hunsicker said. “It really is a shame that many HVAC contractors think that heat exchangers are not that big of a deal being cracked, since very few are having health problems because of them and therefore they do not teach and train their techs to even look much at the heat exchangers.

“The mentality is just go do whatever needs to be done to get the heat back on and get a small amount of money then get on to the next call to do the same again.”

Hunsicker added, “Many contractors feel they have no right to shut off a person’s furnace and red tag it and that is probably because they are lacking proper industry training. There are not enough articles in the trade magazines being written about what we as HVAC service contractors really have the right to do when finding cracks or holes in heat exchangers, regardless of whether or not the furnace is operating dangerously at that moment in time.

“We can’t wait until the CO alarm starts beeping before telling customers that it is time to replace the furnace.”

Publication date: 10/29/2007