The natural gas furnace has everything most homes need in a heating system. It heats the whole home from a central location, it connects to the gas line available for most homes to access, and it does not cost an arm and a leg to run. Furthermore, today’s gas furnaces are safer than they have ever been before.
However, there is still a small risk when running any natural gas appliance of the dangerous byproducts of combustion leaking into a home. Perhaps the biggest risk with a furnace is a cracked heat exchanger. This is the component that allows heat to transfer to the air moving through your home, so shouldn’t the furnace shut off if the heat exchanger is cracked? Is this really something to worry about?