When it comes to home maintenance and repairs, your heating and air system can be one of the most costly. It is also the most important when it comes to your family’s comfort. When faced with frequent or expensive repairs, what many homeowners want to know is: “Is it worth repairing?” Here are 4 factors to consider when deciding whether you should repair or replace your HVAC system.
1. Age. Increased age is the most obvious sign that you should start considering an HVAC upgrade. The average lifespan of a heat pump or AC is about 12 years so the closer it gets to that age, the more likely you will start to have more frequent repairs and efficiency problems.
2. More frequent repairs. Are you having to call out a service technician more and more often in the last few years? If so, it may just be time to go ahead and replace the entire system. Even what we consider to be “small repairs” can eventually add up and you could end up spending more money that could be going towards the replacement of your HVAC system.
3. Your system is having a hard time keeping up. If your home still feels hot even when you have the AC running on full blast or it seems like your unit is running constantly just to maintain temperature, it may be time to replace your system. Your current HVAC system may not be properly sized or just may not be able to hang like it used to. We can have one of our comfort specialists come out and determine which size and type of system would work best for you and your family.
4. Refrigerant type. Most heat pumps and air conditioners manufactured before 2006 use a type of refrigerant called R-22. This type of refrigerant has been phased out and can no longer be manufactured. As a result, the price of R-22 has been increasing significantly over the past few years and will continue to increase until there is no R-22 in inventory. Increasing Freon prices also means increasing repair prices and you might find that you are better off replacing your old system with a more efficient R-410A system.
When you start to see a combination of two or more of these telltale signs, the more we would recommend that you lean more towards a system replacement or least start to prepare by researching and getting together the funds you may need to upgrade your HVAC system. You can increase the life span and efficiency of your heat pump or AC by investing in a preventative maintenance plan.