Just realized my 'quick fix' for a furnace rollout switch cost me a whole weekend

Last Friday, I got a call for a no-heat situation in a split-level in Dayton. The rollout switch on the furnace was tripped, which usually means a bad flame sensor or a crack. I saw some soot, assumed it was just dirty, and bypassed the switch to test it. Big mistake. The furnace lit, but then the real crack in the heat exchanger let combustion gases spill into the house. I had to shut it all down, explain the safety risk to the homeowner, and order a whole new heat exchanger assembly. It took two full days to fix what should have been a simple diagnostic. Anyone else ever get burned by rushing past the basic safety checks?

3 comments

3 Comments

logan_robinson852mo ago

That reminds me of the time I swapped a capacitor without checking the contactor.

barbara_hall92mo ago

Man, that rollout switch is there for a reason, right? Learned the hard way to always check for a draft with a match test first. What's your go-to method for finding those hairline cracks?

davis.diana1d ago

My buddy Mike did this exact thing on a Kenmore last year, bypassed the rollout and ended up with CO readings of 80 ppm in the supply vents. Took him two days and a new inducer to get it right again.