Home inspection revealed that the "housing in the furnace is cracked." We are in the process of selling our home and would really rather not pay to replace/repair the furnace. We purchased a home warranty for the new buyer and are waiting to hear back whether the warranty will cover the furnace for him. However, we need to know if this cracked housing is a safety issue for our family over the next 5-6 weeks. We do have a carbon monoxide detector in the house and have never had it go off. Also, we've had no problems with our furnace not working. Anybody have any advice?

If the heat exchanger is cracked then you would have a problem, the furnace housing cracked not so much. Are you still running the furnace? Move you carbon detector as close to the first vent coming off your furnace.

For anyone who wants an update: Had furnace checked out by licensed HVAC person. It was not a heat exchanger, but just the plastic housing around the blower (?) system. He said that this is definitely not a safety issue and there no danger of carbon monoxide leaking into the house. The furnace works just fine and has at least 5 years life left in it. However, since we're selling our house, we'll have to have it repaired since the home inspector wants it repaired. Ah, well... such is life. At least we're not having to buy a new furnace.