One Illinois renter shared their story after their landlord refused to replace a red-tagged furnace despite multiple techs recommending it be replaced.

Here's what to know

The tenant shared the infuriating experience to Reddit's r/HVACAdvice community. In the thread, the Chicago-area renter sought advice on conflicting safety assessments and how to get their landlord to act.

The original poster wrote, "2 of 3 techs say [the] heat exchanger failed, 1 says rusted but OK," before noting that the technician who said it was 'Ok to run for now' was 'the landlord's guy.'

The first technician red-tagged the furnace and shut off its gas after finding heavy rust and scaling and concluding that the heat exchanger had failed. An independent technician also recommended replacement and left the gas off, citing signs that the tubes were pulling away from the back plate.

The landlord's technician, by contrast, approved its temporary operation but provided no written report. After replacing a pressure switch, the technician ran the furnace for roughly 10 minutes and measured zero parts per million of carbon monoxide at the supply vents.

OP then added, "Landlord says 'it works' and he doesn't want to replace it, and he wants two more opinions. We're on space heaters with lows in the 20s this weekend."

Commenters were quick to attack the landlord's response. One of the top comments read, "If the landlord won't get it fixed, report them to the city." 

Another user similarly wrote, "Call your village/city hall and describe this to them! The furnace is not yours, do not touch any of that or the landlord gets to blame you for any issues. Leverage your local government to force the landlord into action." 

One commenter who identified himself as an HVAC Service Tech of 11 years, explained that "the landlord shouldn't call it good because 'it's running.' I've seen plenty of systems that would run but were absolutely unsafe to do so." 

The same HVAC tech added that "I would be making the landlord pay the electric bill for those space heaters because of him not wanting to fix a potentially life-threatening safety issue. Call an attorney if need be. … He's putting money above human life. CO is nothing to play with."

Several commenters urged professional flue-combustion testing, and the discussion also addressed the need for written findings.  

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Where can I learn more?

Other renters have faced similar questions about heating safety and how to get landlords to act. 

• A renter shut down a 36-year-old furnace after a repairman bypassed its overheating protection.

• A Wisconsin renter concerned about furnace rust received a low-level CO detector instead of replacement equipment.

• After flooding, a renter said their landlord pushed a lease break as commenters flagged unsafe venting.

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