Faulty furnaces in newer homesThough manufacturing ceased in 1994, fire-prone furnaces have been found in homes built as recently as 1998. December 3, 2001 By TERI SFORZA Just because a home is new doesn't mean it's free of a fire- prone furnace, the Orange County Fire Authority warns. Faulty furnaces have surfaced in Huntington Beach condominiums built as recently as 1998, years after the manufacture of the faulty furnaces had ceased, said Garry Layman of the Orange County Fire Authority. All homeowners with horizontal, gas-fired furnaces should have those furnaces inspected as soon as possible, Layman said. In September 2000, The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning about horizontal, gas-fired furnaces manufactured for the California market by Consolidated Industries (formerly Premier), but sold under dozens of brand names, including Trane, Kenmore and Amana. The problem, according to the Commission: Steel "NOx rods" -- installed above the burners to reduce nitrogen-oxide emissions and meet California air-quality standards - get very hot, crack furnace casings and let flames escape. The furnaces have sparked 50 fires and have caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of property damage in California. The NOx rod heaters were manufactured from 1983 to 1994 and installed in about 190,000 California homes. People with homes built after 1994 were presumed to be safe, but the Huntington Beach furnaces show that's not necessarily the case, Layman said. "They may still be sitting on shelves to this day and could still be installed," he said. "If people have a horizontal furnace, they should get it checked, no matter when their home was built." The problem with Consolidated furnaces may go far deeper than NOx rods, and far beyond California. Riverside fire investigator Michael Whedon was working on a lawsuit in 1997 when he visited Consolidated's Indiana plant to examine failed furnaces that did not have NOx rods. Whedon concluded that NOx rods exacerbate problems - but that the heater's internal parts are poorly designed and manufactured, and pose a fire hazard in and of themselves. The metal fails, allowing more gas to burn, leading to "great, big, monstrous, blue-yellow flames," which pose a fire risk, he said. There are about 750,000 of these furnaces scattered nationwide, Whedon said. Whedon informed the Consumer Product Safety Commission of his findings, "but nobody has bothered to do any extensive testing on the furnaces without the NOx rods," he said. "In San Diego, I'm seeing a tremendous number of these failures. I think the CPSC should issue a blanket warning on these things." The CPSC is familiar with Whedon's findings, but doesn't believe the metal is a culprit. "We believe the defect is the steel rods," said spokesman Ken Giles. "If a furnace is 14, 15, 16 years old and is starting to show metal fatigue and other effects of aging, that might be a concern. But it might not be a defect under the Consumer Product Safety Act." The Long Beach engineering firm that tested Consolidated furnaces for the CPSC said there is, indeed, a manufacturing flaw with the non-NOx-rod furnaces. The defect causes the metal to be less resistant to high temperatures - but since these furnaces burn much cooler than those with NOx rods, it shouldn't cause problems, said engineer Gerald Zamiski. |