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Where is the heat exchanger located?

Author: Justin

Jul. 08, 2024

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Understanding Heat Exchangers and How They Work

Furnaces are essential to keep you warm and comfortable during the cold months. The furnace relies on a heat exchanger for maximum heat and clean air. Heat exchangers are by far the most important parts of the furnace. They are the component that gives you the advantage of a heated home without the dangers of inhaling any toxic gasses.

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Most homeowners forget about them until a problem arises. Therefore, you need to understand what a heat exchanger is and how it works to ensure that you and your family are always safe from any fire hazards.

What Is a Heat Exchanger?

A heat exchanger is a metal device found inside the furnace, between the combustion chamber and blower. It helps transfer heat from the combustion chamber to your home via the heating ducts.

It also keeps you from carbon monoxide poisoning. There is a mixture of poisonous gases called &#;flue gases&#; in the combustion chamber that is not safe for you to inhale. The heat exchanger is responsible for keeping those gases in the combustion chamber.

The heat exchanger starts at the furnace&#;s burner assembly to the point where the chimney vents join with the furnace. Combined with a metal chamber, that passageway ensures that there is safe heat distribution throughout your house.

How Does a Heat Exchanger Work?

Once you turn on the furnace, the burners ignite and generate flames directed inside the heat exchanger. The combustion gases from the furnace&#;s burners get very hot, and as they flow through the heat exchanger, they heat their inside walls.

Since the heat exchanger is metallic, heating its inside walls is fast, and it also causes its outside to heat up. The return air ducts in your heating system then draw cold air from your home and blow it over the outside surface of the heat exchanger. The hot heat exchanger surface heats the air, and then, the air travels back through the air ducts into different parts of your house.

The combustion gases that remain in the heat exchanger are then expelled from the heat exchanger via a vent and outside the home. If you use a high-efficiency condensing furnace, the combustion gases pass through another heat exchanger, generating more heat for the house.

Problems With Heat Exchangers

One of the main issues that your heat exchanger runs into is metal fatigue. This happens because of the metal plate&#;s constant expansion (heating) and contraction (cooling).

This causes the metal to wear out and break at some point, which is why you should replace your heat exchanger after a certain period. Most heat exchangers last between 10 and 20 years. However, that could change depending on how well you take care of your furnace, how much you use it, and the brand you use. To extend the lifetime, ensure that you clean it regularly and use the furnace only when you must.

You should have a professional look at your furnace once or twice every year for regular maintenance. You should have them look for any holes or cracks in the heat exchanger to determine if there is any wear or tear. It would be best to do that before the cold seasons when you are about to use the furnace extensively. You may have to replace the heat exchanger or the whole furnace, depending on the damage.

Another major problem is improper installation of the furnace. Bad installation affects how much heat you get from the furnace and could also cause fire accidents. If you want to install a furnace in your home, ensure that you get in touch with the best company. Consider the skills level, experience, and reviews of their past customers. You also need to consider the brands of the products they use for the best quality during installation. You should also go for companies that are licensed to provide the services and who have liability insurance.

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Furnace Heat Exchanger: Where Is It and What Does It Do?

Where is my furnace heat exchanger and what does it do?

Where is my furnace heat exchanger and what does it do? These are good questions that many homeowners ask. The first part of the question is easy to answer, and the second part is interesting because the Furnace Heat Exchanger is one of the major gas furnace components. Sun-Aire Comfort Systems will correct any problem that causes your Furnace Heat Exchanger to be inefficient or dangerous.

Where Is My Furnace Heat Exchanger?

The accompanying image of a furnace shows the location of a heat exchanger (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/heat-exchanger.html) in a gas fired furnace. The furnace that you are looking at is referred to as an upflow furnace, and the heating air leaves the top of the furnace and goes up into the system supply air duct. Furnaces are also manufactured as
downflow and horizontal. The different orientation descriptions refer to the direction that the heating air leaves a furnace.

When the furnace front panels are removed, the furnace heat exchanger is not visible. The heat exchanger is behind a panel, and the reason for that will be discussed below. Although the heat exchanger is covered, there is an easy way to determine its location. External to the furnace is a steel gas pipe, generally 1/2&#; in diameter, that continues to the inside of the furnace. This gas pipe will be connected to the furnace gas valve. The gas valve in turn is connected to the burners.

The burners in the furnace produce a flame that goes into the heat exchanger. Therefore the heat exchanger is adjacent to the gas valve and burners, in the same section of the furnace. Generally the heat exchanger and burner section are located in the section where the air exits the furnace. An upflow furnace has its heat exchanger in the top compartment of the furnace, a downflow in the bottom compartment, and a horizontal where the air exists the furnace.

What Does a Furnace Heat Exchanger Look Like?

Older furnaces use the Clam Shell  type as the primary heat exchanger. The clam shell is produced by stamping two pieces of metal that are mirror images of the other, so they can be joined and then fastened at the seams. These seams must be joined in such a way that they will not leak combustion gases. Each of the clam shells comprises a section or chamber. As these chambers are joined together is a manifold of sorts, the potential Btuh heating capacity is increased.

Newer furnaces may use the Serpentine  type as the primary heat exchanger. The accompanying picture shows the serpentine tubes, which appear as pipe that is bent in a specific pattern for the furnace it will be installed in. As the number of serpentine tubes increase, so does the potential Btuh heating capacity of the furnace. At the bends there are creases in the metal, which strengthen the heat exchanger.

High efficiency Condensing Furnaces employ a Secondary Heat Exchanger . The secondary heat exchanger removes additional heat from the combustion gases and water vapor leaving the primary heat exchanger.

What Does My Furnace Heat Exchanger Do?

By definition a heat exchanger will transfer heat to a cooler medium. This transfer is based on the Laws of Thermodynamics, in which heat will automatically transfer from an object with the higher temperature to an object with the lower temperature. The heat of an object is measured by the activity of its atoms. The atoms in a hot object move more rapidly than atoms in a cold object.

In a furnace heat exchanger, as with all heat exchangers, the warmer and colder mediums are separated and do not directly touch. The heat exchanger is manufactured from thin metal, and will be mild carbon steel or stainless steel depending on the type of furnace. Some heat exchangers are a hybrid such as steel with an aluminized coating. During the furnace heating cycle the combustion gas will travel through the heat exchanger and exhaust out of the furnace. As the combustion gases exhaust to the outdoor atmosphere they heat up the metal that separates them from the heating air being supplied to the house.

In the sequence of operation that comprises the furnace heating cycle, the blower motor will be turned on and push the return air pass the heat exchanger. As the cooler return air passes over the hot heat exchanger its temperature increases between 30*F to 65*F, depending on the furnace make and model. As the return air increases in temperature, the heat exchanger combustion gases drop in temperature and exhaust to the atmosphere.

Return air and supply air temperatures are measured by furnace technicians and compared to the data plate located inside the gas valve portion of the furnace cabinet. Using the Carrier Infinity model 59MN7A as an example, the continuous return air temperature cannot be lower than 60*F or higher than 80*F. Maximum temperature raise  for a 100,000 Btuh 59MN7A is between 45*F to 75*F. Using the mid-range temperatures for the return air and the temperature rise, the calculation shows a return air temperature of 70*F may be heated to 130*F, an increase of 60 degrees. The increase in temperature comes from the heat transfer at the heat exchanger exterior surface.

To ensure that the heat exchanger has a long and efficient life, it must operate within the engineering parameters of the manufacturer. If the return air temperatures are too cool, or the temperature rises above the maximum allowed temperature, the heat exchanger can be damaged. A malfunctioning exchanger requires repairs to be made to the heater. During your annual furnace tune up, these temperatures should be checked.

Return air temperatures below 60*F will cause the combustion gases to rapidly condense and cause a water problem in the heat exchanger. If the heat exchanger is uncoated mild carbon steel, the water will cause rusting, and eventually cracks and holes. In addition to the inefficiency caused by low return air temperatures, the resulting water can lead to complete failure and emissions of carbon monoxide into the home.

Now that you know where your furnace heat exchanger is and what it does, arrange for an annual furnace tune up. If you live in the Springfield, Missouri area, schedule maintenance for your furnace by calling Sun-Aire Comfort Systems at (417) 352-. You can also schedule an appointment on line by going to our website www.sun-airehvac.com.

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