The heat exchanger is one of the most important components in your furnace. It’s what creates warm air. When a heat exchanger fails, it can emit the poisonous gas carbon monoxide.
Heat exchangers normally fail due to age or excessive use. Recently, one of the largest furnace manufacturers, the Carrier Corporation, experienced trouble with the condensing secondary heat exchangers sold under several of their brand names. The brands included: Carrier, Payne, Bryant, and Day & Night.
According to court records, the “condensing secondary heat exchangers in high efficiency gas furnaces made by Carrier were defective and failed too soon.” The material used to make the secondary heat exchanger may prematurely degrade, disintegrate, and lead to an early failure.
These secondary heat exchangers may perform well for years, yet the risk is clear. If the suspect material degrades or disintegrates, then it goes to reason that poisonous carbon monoxide could potentially be released into the home and cause harm. Thousands of these potentially faulty condensing secondary heat exchangers were sold since 1989. Many still remain in homes today.