Sometimes when people see that Gillece Services offers a $19.95 furnace inspection, they think that the low price means it’s a service that isn’t worth having done. That’s the same attitude some take about checking the fluids in their car, at least until an oil leak or radiator destroys the engine, but that isn’t our point. The truth is, there this is probably no routine home service that is more important than having your fuel-burning appliances inspected each year.
If you read the first two parts of this three-part series, you already know why. Fuel-burning appliances like heaters, water heaters, and ovens can create carbon monoxide, an extremely deadly gas that can quickly and symptomlessly kill.
How deadly is CO? When firefighters in Palm Beach, Florida, which has experienced a rash of carbon monoxide deaths this year, entered a home on a call, six of them had to be hospitalized due to CO poisoning.
There are two steps you must take to be certain that your home is safe from carbon monoxide. First, get have a quality carbon monoxide detector (or detectors, depending on your home) installed by a qualified professional. We covered this in the second part of our series.
Next, have your furnace and other appliances checked for leaks. There are plenty of qualified companies around town, but this is why you should call Gillece: Not only does Gillece Services offer the most affordable furnace inspection in Pittsburgh (higher volume for us means lower prices for you), but our technicians are equipped with the most sophisticated technology available.
The old way of inspecting the heat exchanger in a furnace (the part where carbon monoxide would escape) was to rely what a technician’s fingers could feel and what he could see using small mirrors. The fact is that only about 20 percent of a heat exchanger surface can be viewed with a flashlight and mirror.
Gillece technicians use a high-end infrared camera that allows us to inspect the entire exchange for cracks and defects. This camera — the Inspector — is the only furnace inspection camera that utilizes a high definition/high resolution camera and monitor. All other cameras use a basic modified home security camera that wasn’t intended to spot the kinds of small cracks that can form on inside of furnace heat exchangers.
Here is the key: Infrared photography dramatically highlights corrosion within a furnace heat exchanger, while ordinary cameras completely miss the corrosion.
Some companies brag about having color cameras. This would be great if you were broadcasting the camera to a television, but color can actually make it more difficult to spot corrosion. The Inspector is not a black and white camera, rather it is a true high resolution infrared camera, and infrared can only be viewed on a black and white monitor.
So get peace of mind when it comes to carbon monoxide. Read up on the danger, get a quality detector for your Pittsburgh home, and have your appliances checked for leaks.
