R
10

Just realized my 'quick fix' for a furnace rollout switch cost me a whole weekend

Last Friday, I got a call for a no-heat situation in a split-level in Dayton. The rollout switch on the furnace was tripped, which usually means a bad flame sensor or a crack. I saw some soot, assumed it was just dirty, and bypassed the switch to test it. Big mistake. The furnace lit, but then the real crack in the heat exchanger let combustion gases spill into the house. I had to shut it all down, explain the safety risk to the homeowner, and order a whole new heat exchanger assembly. It took two full days to fix what should have been a simple diagnostic. Anyone else ever get burned by rushing past the basic safety checks?
2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In
2 Comments
logan_robinson85
That reminds me of the time I swapped a capacitor without checking the contactor.
6
barbara_hall9
Man, that rollout switch is there for a reason, right? Learned the hard way to always check for a draft with a match test first. What's your go-to method for finding those hairline cracks?
2