What is a Heat Exchanger?

Most homeowners pay little attention to all the bells, whistles, and crucial components that make up their furnace or boiler. After all, what’s there to know?  You feel cold, you turn up the thermostat and, within minutes, your home is warm and welcoming. Simple enough, right?

Not quite, since your heating system is made up of numerous integral components. Some of those, in addition to helping to keep you warm, are critical to your family’s well-being.  

Take, for example, the heat exchanger in a gas-fired, forced air heating system.  Once the natural or propane gas has been heated by the burners, it enters the heat exchanger where the heat is then transferred into the exchanger walls.  Next, the combustion gases cool down and are directed into venting pipes through which they exit your home. At the same time, indoor air is blown over the heated walls of the exchanger and warmed. That warm air travels through your home’s ductwork until it reaches its final destination – your living spaces.

Whether your heating system is gas or electric, furnace or boiler, the role of the heat exchanger is the same:  transferring heat from one source to another to properly heat your home.

Because a heat exchanger constantly heats and cools while your furnace cycles on and off, the process can put stress on the metal chambers and lead to cracks. And through those cracks, dangerous levels of carbon monoxide can escape.

Preventative maintenance is the best way to avoid premature wear and tear on your heat exchanger – not to mention the rest of your furnace or boiler.

When was the last time you have preventative maintenance performed on your heating system by a qualified and licensed HVAC professional? If it’s been a year or longer, we invite you to contact Correct Temp today to schedule service. With us on the job, you’ll have one less thing to be concerned about…all winter long.