If your furnace receives a red tag during a maintenance call or utility inspection, you’re suddenly facing not only an abrupt loss of residential heating but also a serious threat to the health and lives of everyone in your home. A red-tagged furnace means that an HVAC expert or utility company inspector has found a critical safety problem with the unit, usually a cracked or damaged heat exchanger, and the furnace must be shut down until the damage is repaired or the furnace replaced.

The heat exchanger is the component of your furnace responsible for transferring heat from fuel combustion to the air that circulates through and warms your house. A cracked heat exchanger may allow deadly carbon monoxide gas to leak out of your furnace and into your home. A carbon monoxide leak is a particular threat because humans cannot detect this deadly gas. If the concentration of carbon monoxide is high enough, it can kill. Most often, people die from carbon monoxide after being exposed to it while they sleep.

A red-tagged furnace leaves you with the need to make a smart and informed decision about what to do while moving quickly to safely restore your home heating. Heat exchangers usually must be replaced. This can be expensive, as new heat exchangers can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. Sometimes replacing a heat exchanger can cost as much or more than replacing the entire furnace.

Consider replacing the heat exchanger if your furnace is under 10 years old, if the exchanger is still covered under warranty, or if the repair costs less than 25 percent of total system replacement. Otherwise, a new furnace is probably your best, safest and most reliable option.

For 18 years, Glasco Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. has provided heating and air conditioning services to customers in Hartford and the surrounding area. If your furnace has received the dreaded red tag, contact us today for expert advice on what to do next, and for help finding a replacement furnace that will serve your winter comfort needs safely and reliably.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about red-tagged furnaces and other HVAC topics, visit our website.

Glasco Heating & Air Conditioning services South Windsor, Connecticut and the surrounding areas.  

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