09/27/2026
This is a real story about one of our customers that we want to share to help homeowners be aware of the importance of getting your heating system serviced and keeping maintained every year.
We received a call from one of our regular customers scheduling a normal yearly maintenance for their two furnaces in the house. When the day came and the service began, we started with the checking of the burner tubes, flame rod, and the igniter. Everything so far looked in good condition for a roughly 12 year old furnace. Included in the maintenance is the combustion test to ensure that the furnace is running properly. After running the combustion test we came across that the furnace was letting out over 300ppm of CO which is a dangerous amount. To ensure that the test was accurate, we ran the test 3 times and confirmed that the CO was a dangerous amount and was letting the CO go into the living area. We then Red Tagged the furnace and went over the option with the customer to either go though the warranty with the manufacture or with the age of the furnace, replace it entirely with a newer furnace. Working with the customer and their budget we were able to locate a newer model replacing the furnace without having to replace the AC saving the customer thousands. We scheduled the day for the furnace replacement for 3 days after the diagnostic. Luckily we caught it in time before the cold weather hit. We came the day of the install and ripped out the old furnace showing 3 distinct holes in the heat exchanger confirming the diagnostic that CO was going into the living area. We installed the new furnace and reconnected the gas line. After the install was complete, we ran a new combustion test and the results came back with the proper numbers showing the customer that everything was now safe and proper. The customer was very relived to know that we were able to not only come and perform a maintenance check but also prevent a dangerous situation and resolve the situation with a new unit. After the installation we ran a maintenance check on their other furnace. Checking the flame rod, burner tubers and the igniter with a combustion test. The other furnace was in very good condition and the combustion test came back with fantastic numbers showing that the furnace was running in very well for being a 12 year old unit as well.
We have attached pictures to show other home owners the cause and reasons we strongly recommend getting your heating systems checked every year before heating season begins.
Kato Plumbing and Heating takes our customers homes and safety very seriously and we are very happy that we were able to make sure that our customer is now safe and warm in their home.
