Cracked Heat Exchanger: Symptoms, How It's Confirmed and What to Ask For
Signs of a cracked furnace heat exchanger, how a technician confirms one, what to ask for if your furnace is red-tagged, and when to repair or replace it.
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In St. Louis Park's postwar story-and-a-halfs, the furnace often shares a chimney with the water heater, so draft is an early check on every repair call. A visit costs a $79 trip charge, waived when you approve the work, with a written flat-rate price first. We're open 7 days, 7am–9pm.
St. Louis Park's postwar houses put the furnace in a low basement, often beside a gas water heater that shares the same masonry chimney. That setup matters on a repair call. An 80% furnace venting into a chimney partly blocked by fallen mortar or a failed liner can keep its pressure switch from closing, or trip a rollout switch, and the burners shut down. We check draft and carbon monoxide around the flue on every visit. In the story-and-a-halfs, the finished upstairs usually has little or no ductwork, so owners turn the thermostat up and the furnace runs long, hard cycles that finish off inducer bearings and igniters.
Houses already converted to a 96% furnace have a different winter failure: PVC terminations in a narrow side yard, where snow sliding off two roofs drifts in and blocks the intake. The pressure switch opens and the furnace locks out.
Updated September 23, 2026
Every furnace repair call in St. Louis Park starts with a $79 trip charge, waived when you approve the repair, and a written price before any work. Same prices in St. Louis Park as in every town we serve. National averages (HomeGuide, 2026), not our prices: an igniter $100–$250, a flame sensor $80–$250, a pressure switch $150–$400. More in the furnace repair cost guide.

More detail on our furnace repair page.
Symptom guides: Blowing cold air · Won't ignite · Short cycling · Blinking light codes · Pressure switch trips · Strange noises · Leaking water · Burning smell · Red tag · Carbon monoxide
Probably not. Most of these houses have no real ductwork to the finished upper rooms, just a grille or one small run, so heat reaches them by drifting up the stairs. A furnace running nonstop to satisfy a main-floor thermostat wears out sooner. We check the furnace first, then talk through options for the upstairs, such as a ductless head, so the furnace stops chasing a load it can't reach.
They can if the chimney doesn't draft well. A cracked or blocked flue, a missing liner, or a house depressurized by a strong kitchen or bath fan can push exhaust back into the basement. On repair calls we check draft and measure CO near both appliances. Minnesota law requires working CO alarms within 10 feet of every sleeping room, and in a story-and-a-half that includes the upstairs bedrooms.
Signs of a cracked furnace heat exchanger, how a technician confirms one, what to ask for if your furnace is red-tagged, and when to repair or replace it.
Read the guideBang at startup, squeal, scrape, rattle, hum, click, whistle or a rumble after shutoff: what each furnace noise means and whether it's safe to keep running.
Read the guideThe quietest gas furnaces from Lennox, Carrier and Trane, the features that really cut noise, and the duct fixes that quiet any furnace in a Minnesota home.
Read the guideFurnace repair in St. Louis Park? Call or send a request.