Is $5,000 to repair a cracked heat exchanger in the gas furnace a fair price?
Project Details
I bought my house a little less than a year ago and have noticed low CO readings whenever the heat kicks on. It's only for the first 10-15 seconds or so, but I'm getting readings between 5-20ppm from the vent closest to our gas furnace. It goes back to 0ppm after it runs for a few seconds and stays that way until the next start up. It doesn't even do it every time. No CO is being detected anywhere else in the house, and its exclusively when the heat kicks on and starts coming through that specific vent in our basement. I just want to know if this is normal and/or acceptable. We really can't afford the repair at the moment. The unit is also 15+ years old so if we're going to spend the money, we'd probably redo the whole HVAC system given that our AC also has issues. I'm testing with a Toptes CT-300 and I don't know if that's a good tester or complete junk. I'm trying not to nickel and dime myself to death, and I'm wondering if it's safe to use the furnace since it's only small amounts of CO for a few seconds every couple hours or so.
Quote Details
This quote is for repairing the gas furnace after the first company diagnosed a cracked heat exchanger. They advised not to run the unit under any circumstances due to the detected low-level carbon monoxide (5-20ppm) coming from a vent near the furnace during the initial 10-15 seconds of heating cycles. - Diagnosis: Cracked heat exchanger in the gas furnace - Recommended action: Repair the existing unit - Safety warning: Do not run the unit
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More Details
Category
HVAC
Price
$5,000
Quote Date
November 13, 2025
Fuel type
Natural gas
System type
Furnace
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