Wall Furnaces and Floor Furnaces

Not all brands and styles of wall heaters and floor heaters are still made. Nearly every one in existence today can be repaired with new, modern parts.

This web page is dedicated to dispelling the notion that just because your floor furnace or wall furnace stops working doesn't mean hat you have to replaces it.

Everything You Never Really Wanted to Know About Wall Heaters and Wall Heaters

The picture at the top of the page is from a wall furnace that was exhibiting a flame roll out.

The wall heater pilot was just fine, the main burners are a little dirty and the entire burner assembly is loos and not attached to the furnace. It is just hanging there. It needed a cleaning, but what about the flame roll out? A flame roll out is when the gas natural gas or lp (propane) gas does not ignite right away from the pilot. The gas buildup up and then explodes when it comes into contract with the flame.

None of those items caused the flames to roll out into the living room from this wall furnace

Take a close look at the air fuel mixture port. You can see black soot surrounding the air inlet opening. This opening is where air is introduced to the gas mixture. Higher pressure gas passing through the lower pressure surrounding air drags the air into the piping and out the burner. This is called an aspirator.

The Air Mixture Port Is Defective

That black carbon buildup is caused by a carbonizing flame. A carbonizing flame is like a Tiki torch. This Tiki torch like flame doesn't belong in any furnace and it certainly doesn't belong at the air mixture port. This wall furnace was suffering from the flowing:

• 1. The gas valve fuel pressure was set wrong.
  2. The gas valve did not turn the gas quickly enough. The gas slowly dribbled through the valve after shut down.
  3. The air fuel mixture port was obstructed by carbon buildup.

The actual flame roll out was caused by the obstruction of air mixture port from the carbon build up which was a result of the diaphragm in the gas valve going bad. The gas was flowing out the port and up the inside of the wall furnace bypassing the main burners altogether.

Another Company said they fixed this before we arrived

The other company cleaned out the carbon, cleaned the burners and reset the burner assembly in as you see it here, loose and not bolted in. That was last year. This year the homeowner had the same opportunity to have their wall heater burn their home down. We were able to solve the problem. Cleaning is often the problem, but nearly as often there is some other problem that is causing the wall furnace to become dirty.

Floor Furnaces

When working on a floor furnace it is especially important to check the draft hood, the vent pipe and the heat exchanger for damage and proper installation. Just because the floor furnace is heating you home doesn't mean that it is operating properly. Many times over the years I have come across people pets that have died from carbon monoxide poisoning under the home. The area where the furnace is warm and pets, cats and dogs, congregate around the floor to sleep in the winter. If the draft hood is damaged or the slope of the vent piping is not correct the floor furnace will vent the products of the combustion (CO2) under the home. The animals simply go sleep and pass away.

We replace floor furnaces, draft hoods, gas valves, vents and many other things related to floor heaters and wall heaters. All you have to do is give us a call for a free estimate.