furnace gas valves

Does anyone break down furnace gas valves? I've always thrown mine in the dirty aluminum barrell, wondering if it would be worth it to save them for a rainy day. Also, while I was breaking down furnaces tonight I decided to finally tear out the secondary heat exchangers to see just what they are made of. Each one that I did yielded a little over 10 pounds of non-magnetic stainless. You can bet I'm kicking myself for all the stainless I've been throwing away over the last few years!

I save mine for when I'm low on things to break down. Not sure if it's worth it, but the price is better and it gives me something to do when calls aren't coming in. I do the same thing with transformers too.

I never knew the secondary heat exchangers were stainless either *facepalm* Learn something new everyday on here!

I don't get many standing pilot furnaces. Would hot water heater thermocouples be the same?

I break my gas valves down. Generally speaking the bottoms usually clean up pretty easy, the tops not so much because of stainless inserts and what not. That being said, all valves are not created equal, YMMV.

Cool thread Joe! I started tearing my first one down yesterday, and got about as far as tossing the main valve to the tear down farther pile. I didn't get inside it yet, but am headed that direction. I noticed there are several gaskets around the covers that are no doubt asbestos, and wondered if any of that left showing, could be a problem at the yard ?

The ones that I've done have all been a white fiberglass. Some of the older oil burners might have asbestos in the fire box but I'm not sure. My yard has never questioned it.

these were white too, i just expected they were asbestos. It's a full heating unit from an old trailer house

I think they stopped using it in the early 70's. If you're in doubt, put it in a trash bag and wait for the hazardous waste day in your neighborhood.

I didn't get to work on it yesterday, but put my magnet around the inside. No stainless there that i could find. I still have one more of these, maybe a little bigger, hoping it'll have some stainless

Bear, the secondary heat exchangers are used in the high efficiency furnaces. It looks like a stainless car radiator. If the furnace is vented it PVC, chances are it will have one. They sit right under the blower housing so when you pull the blower you can tell right away if it has one or not.

Looks like the only good i got from tearing mine down was the experience ; ) It was from an old trailer house. The internal chamber was heavier metal, but still probly just get shred or tin price here. Was a small motor on the bottom, and a larger blower motor on the top, plus the Al valve I'm yet to dismantle, and a few little fittings

Hi we buy thermocouple wires, type s,r and b. Please send me message

We buy mercury flame sensors found on gas valves of furnaces, boilers, and water heaters.
Buying Mercury Flame Sensors, $30 each (= $150 lb!) Limited time only!
White Rodgers brand ONLY. Models 3098-134, 3098-xxx, 3049-xxx, 3094-xxx, (xxx can be any number after dash) 3046-5, 30A46-5.

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