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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:29 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2004 10:11 pm
Posts: 47
Location: Tothburg II Elev C
This evening a Union Gas tech came by and alerted me that he detected high levels of CO from the exhaust vent of my furnace. He explained that anything above 250 ppm is cause to have the appliance shut down as a safety issue. We went around the side and he measured the CO levels as I watched. His meter when so high it errored out, and there was a distinct odour that I hadn't smelt before. Due to this measurement, he was forced to issue an "A" tag and have the furnace turned off.

I asked him why he was even in the neighbourhood doing that. He explained that the odour was noticed by passers by on the street. One of these people called Union Gas, to they came out looking for the source. They identified my neighbour's house as a source, but while going around to the rear yard in between our houses, he noticed the same smell from my vent and took the measurements.

The tech speculated on the reasons, but mainly was saying the Carrier furnaces installed by Mattamy in 2003 (when my house was built) had issues with failures of the secondary heat exchanger, but it could also be something less dire as well. Nothing for certain from him as expected, so I have another A/C tech coming out tomorrow to check things out in more detail.

If it was anyone other than Union Gas, I'd think it was a scam (actually asked the tech this explicitly a couple of times!!).

Has anyone else in the neighbourhood had this experience? Any advice or thing to consider... I know the furnace is old, so it might be better just to replace it.

At least it's not -20 C this weekend... so there is that.

Cheers,
Dean.


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:53 pm 
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Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 9:51 pm
Posts: 127
I had this happen when my Carrier furnace went. It had a rotten smell coming out of the exhaust vent.
Luckily my father-in-law is an HVAC guy. I told him about the smell. He looked at it and told me the heat exchanger was going.


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:12 pm 
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Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2010 7:19 pm
Posts: 2331
Did you see a Union Gas truck???

Did he come in your house and measure any emissions at the furnace???

It doesn't make sense to measure at the outside vent as that's where the carbon monoxide is suppose to be. And it is odorless and tasteless, that's why it is the silent killer.

So if my first 2 questions are no I would definitely be thinking scam.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:37 am 
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Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2004 10:11 pm
Posts: 47
Location: Tothburg II Elev C
Yeah, he was in a Union Gas truck. Showed me his ID (and his actual drivers license!). Paperwork is legit.


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2018 10:44 am 
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Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:15 am
Posts: 885
Location: HVE
As mentioned, CO is colourless and odourless so anything smelling funny or rotten outside isn't that. It sounds like it might be CH4/natural gas that wasn't properly burnt in your furnace. Obviously that would be an indicator of furnace problems.

As long as your CO detectors aren't going off, I wouldn't worry about any health concerns, but you did the right thing by having another guy come out to do a proper furnace inspection.


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