Furnace question? Leaking carbon monoxide...?

Question

We had a home inspection today because we are selling our house. They found the furnace is leaking carbon monoxide (it's 28 yrs. old). We are having a guy come out tomorrow to do an estimate and it should be replaced by the end of the week. Will we be OK???

If our air conditioning comes on....will that be a problem??

Answer 1

You will be fine, You are Ok now so no harm done. You likely have a cracked heat exchanger which means you will be buying a new furnace. But if you are ok now you will be ok! At least health wise.

Sorry it is not a cheap thing to do either.

OK now you need not be freaked it doesn't just leak carbon monoxide, it has to run and seeing that it is Mid August I doubt you are using Heat. so you have nothing to worry about unless you are running your heat.

Answer 2

Relax, you'll be fine! We had the same thing happen to us. The heat exchanger on our furnace was cracked and was such a potential threat the the inspector (yes, our house was for sale too) turned off the gas supply to the whole house.

Fortunately, you are finding this out during the summer, when you're not running your furnace. I would assume that the inspector (or you) has totally shut down the leaking furnace. If it makes you feel better, you can pick up a carbon monoxide monitor at a home improvement store for about $30. They act like smoke detectors and set off a loud siren if the carbon monoxide level in your house gets to an unsafe level.

You should consider yourself very lucky that the problem was found before anyone got sick!

Answer 3

Hopefully, the home inspector explained to you that during the cooling cycle, you and your family are in no danger from carbon monoxide poisoning. The potentially lethal gas can only be released during combustion, which takes place during the heating cycle. Just make sure the gas and the pilot light are off (if it is a gas furnace)

For your information, the reason carbon monoxide is so deadly is the manner that it is absorbed by the lungs. The unstable molecule, CO, actually enters the blood stream at a much higher rate than oxygen. Death results from asphyxiation when insufficiant oxygen is taken into the lungs as it is displaced by the carbon monoxide molecule.

One of your answerers wisely directed you to a carbon monoxide detector, which should be in the vicinity of any appliance that uses combustion (furnace, water heater, gas oven) Tragically, an entire family was killed in my neighborhood when they let their car idle in an enclosed garage, and the carbon monoxide was drawn into the home through a leaking return air plenum.

Turn this close call into an opportunity to keep your home as safe as possible. Here is some info on CO that might be of interest:

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/carbon_monoxide_poisoning/article_em.htm

Good luck and God bless you.

Answer 4

Lucky for you it's not heating season......You should be fine with a new unit. Spend the extra dollars on a high efficiency unit if you plan on staying in the place for many years. With the costs of Natural gas going up it will only help on your mth to mth expenses. Sounds like you are the seller not the buyer so disregard that unless you want to forward the info to your buyer.
Today's market is terrible for a seller. You can disclose the information in you listing and use the new furnace or up grade as an incentive to attract a buyer if you don't have one at this time.
Get several estimates and don't freak out just because a problem was detected. It's not heating season yet so you do have time for additional estimates. Good luck!
as an additional note: Yes you can use the A/C unit. It is independant of the heating unit. Carbon monxide is a product of the combustible used to create the heat for your home. So it will not be a problem to use your air conditioner. As mentioned by others prior.. turn off the GAS VALVE at the unit not the main. It will prevent any other gas appiances from working (hot water tank, Stove etc).

Answer 5

If you live in the Northern hemisphere, you probably don't need ot use your furnace at this time of year. Just turn the gas off so the pilot light is out, and you will be fine. Carbon monoxide is formed from the incomplete burning of natural gas. Unless you live in Europe where they use coal gas, you will have not problem with the gas turned off.

Answer 6

No carbon monoxide kills.

Make sure the windows are open to ventilate the room where the furnace is kept.

Make sure all the windows are open.

Disconnect that furnace if you can.

Answer 7

hello,,,,,,hold on a min there, ac does not put off carbon monoxide,,, either someone has made an error checking for it, or got a false reading,, or it could be something else in your home,,, but a/c does not put it off, i would not change it out ,,, get a second opion, ,, fire heat ,,(only),,,,,, oil or gas will put off carbon monoxide,,,hope this helps...

Answer 8

Have you had alot of headaches, felt dizzy, or nauseated, loss of memory? If so, i would see your dr. for a checkup, otherwise, i would say they may have caught it in time. Carbon Monoxide can have lasting effects for years after, so if you aren't or haven't been feeling good, i would definetely tell your dr.

Answer 9

i personally would not stay there....i've had carbon monoxide poisoning from a bad furnace....it is HORRIBLE

Answer 10

if you have been okay for 28 yrs. then you should be fine for another month but....dont use the furnace