PREMIER/CONSOLIDATED FURNACES PRESENT A SUBSTANTIAL RISK OF FIRE:

If your home was built between 1983-1995 and it is located in the attic, and it is still in use today it is likely that Consolidated Industries manufactured this furnace. This furnace has many brand names but most common is Premier and Consolidated.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, these furnaces present a substantial risk of fire. There are in excess of 50 reports of fires and damage to homes associated with these furnaces as well as failures of burners and heat exchangers that can lead to fires.

CAUSE: New nitrous oxide changes in 1983 FOR CALIFORNIA ONLY prompted companies like Premier/Consolidated Industries to produce equipment to meet these requirements.  Premeir/Consolidated produced the least expensive horizontal furnaces that met these requirements. About 200,000 furnaces were manufactured and sold from1983-1994. To meet these requirements Consolidated equipped their furnaces with steel control rods installed above the burners. In some cases these steel rods cause the burners to overheat and crack the burner box, igniting flames outside the furnace and igniting combustible materials outside the furnace.

WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE THE MONEY TO REPLACE THE FURNACE? Nearly all Major Contractors have financing plans where you can pay a reduced monthly fee that can be as little as 2% of the cost of the furnace and installation per month. Since the cost of replacing the furnace with a standard efficiency furnace will be between $2000 & $3000 that means your monthly outlay could be only $40 to $60 per month (depending on the plan and interest rates and term of the financing). If you put in a High efficiency furnace your savings in operating cost will be lower however the cost for this furnace will be higher.

PREVENTION: Buy your heating equipment from a well-known contractor that sells well known equipment from a well-financed manufacturer. Research to make sure that product is actually manufactured by that manufacturer and just not name branded by the manufacturer. When purchasing a new home, builders tend to cut corners on the heating and air conditioning, ask for the specifics like the brand of the heating and air conditioning equipment. If you have never heard of the brand, ask the builder to substitute a well-known, well-financed brand of heating and air conditioning equipment.

When you have your furnace replaced make sure you keep the nameplate and the brand label. You may also want to take a photo of the furnace, which includes the nameplate and the brand label. If there is any burn damage to supporting structures you will also want to take a photo of this damage.

THE BRIGHT SIDE. Most of the Premier/Consolidated furnaces are older and are nearing the end of their useful life. These furnaces compared to today’s standard were not very efficient, both in electrical usage and in natural gas usage. There are furnaces that are available today that use only 40% of electrical energy that the Consolidated furnaces use and 20-30% less natural gas. With today’s energy prices, the Consolidated furnace is a real energy waster and a new high efficiency furnace can be installed that can easily pay for it’s total replacement cost through lower utility bills in 3-4 years.

If you question your furnace or the safety of your family please sign up for a safety inspection or if your equipment is more than 10 years old recalled or not it may be time to replace that energy waster with an updated furnace.  Contact Cold Craft for more details on how we can help.

 

If you need help with temperature, contact Cold Craft, Inc.

408.374.7292 or [email protected]