Is it worth replacing a cracked heat exchanger?

As we’ve discussed in recent articles, heat exchangers are critical components of furnaces. They work by venting toxic combustion gases out of your home while absorbing the heat and transferring it to the air around the pipes. And we’ve also talked about what happens when heat exchangers crack: they can release toxic fumes into your home like carbon monoxide. Exposure to such gases can be fatal.

While a heat exchanger might sound like a glorified exhaust pipe that should be easy to fix, it’s usually not so simple to repair or replace. Instead of thinking about a heat exchanger like an exhaust system, think of it more like a car engine—pretty complicated and difficult to repair.

Sometimes it might make sense to replace a heat exchanger, but it often makes more sense to just replace the furnace altogether. Here are some things to consider as you decide whether or not it’s worth it to replace the engine of your furnace:

How much does it cost to replace a heat exchanger?

So how much does it cost to replace a bad heat exchanger? Well it’s a huge undertaking that can take up to a day of work. And between parts and labor, a lot of customers will find themselves looking at a $2,000 to $3,500 repair bill. At first glance, that might sound cheaper than an entirely new furnace, but there’s another critical piece to this puzzle.

How old is your unit?

There are two ways to look at heat exchanger failure tendencies. On the bright side, they tend to be well-built and last well into furnaces’ golden years—they usually don’t fail in 5-year-old units (though anything is possible, especially if you work with substandard HVAC companies). 

But that means when heat exchangers fail (and they result in most of the catastrophic failures that tend to condemn a furnace and make it totally unsafe to operate) it usually doesn’t make sense to replace them. 

The best furnaces last around 15 to 20 years, generally speaking. So, for example, if it would cost half of the price of a completely new furnace to replace the heat exchanger and your unit is already 12 years old (more than halfway through its life), then it might make more sense to replace your furnace entirely with something new and efficient

All Hours can help you decide

Our techs have seen tons of cracked and dangerous heat exchangers in the Wendell, North Carolina, area. We can quote you a fair price for excellent work on a replacement heat exchanger and a full furnace replacement and walk you through the options. We’ll never sell you anything you don't need.