Repair or replace?

‍Repair vs replacing your heating and cooling system.

It’s never a good day when you find out that your home’s heating or cooling system is down and needs some sort of repair completed to bring it back online. Depending on the age, efficiency, comfort, and repair costs it could be time to just replace that system.  

Unfortunately, whether to replace or repair your heating and cooling system is not always a straightforward clear answer. Ultimately, you will have to decide what is best for you, your family, and your budget. Here at Edge Guys Heating & Cooling, we hope to give you the tools and factors to determine what is best for you.  

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How long should my heating and cooling system last?

Our heating and cooling systems in central Indiana typically reach a life span of 10 to 15 years. Multiple factors come into consideration that either shorten or stretch this window of operation.  

If the original installation was not completed by a quality company and corners were cut then you would see that expectancy be shortened. Sometimes these cut corners are unseen because it has to do with components within the inner workings of the system. Airflow, refrigerant, and gas pressures are just a few installation points that, if not right, can shorten your system’s life.  

Maintenance is another major factor in the life span of your HVAC system. A well-maintained system can typically make it to that 15-year marker and many times in the past 20 years. Therefore, we stress regular maintenance performed yearly on your home’s heating and cooling system. 

If the age of the system is what will be used to determine repair vs replacement then units at or beyond 12 years of age should be candidates for replacement. Typically, by the time you reach this age, you will be outside of your warranty period, and your efficiency is outdated which means your utility costs are higher than they should be. Of course, in the end, the decision will be yours to make, however. 

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Efficiencies and Utility Costs.

Depending on the age of your system the efficiency of your system could be quite outdated. The efficiency of heating and cooling systems has increased quite a bit in the last 20 years. Especially on the side of the air conditioning units we have seen over a 100% increase in possible efficiencies for cooling.  

Because of this, there are many systems in use right now that are causing utility costs to be much higher than what they could be with a system replacement. That, along with the rising costs of our utility rates in general should cause us to pause and weigh the options when a repair presents itself.

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Replace or Repair?

If your heating and cooling system needs a repair oftentimes the main factor we look at as homeowners is what will this repair cost me today? When weighing that repair cost against what the replacement cost is today it can be very tempting to just repair since the repair cost is often much less than a new system.  

To do this we use the equation below. We start by establishing what the homeowner believes to be the remaining life of the system. In the equation, we will use 3 years. Typically, with a new system, you can bank on roughly 30% utility savings. Sometimes more if you are looking at an even higher efficiency. The utility overpayment is calculated by taking your current utility charges for electricity and gas, (if you have a gas furnace) and finding out what 30% of that total for the year would be. We then multiply that out by the remaining 3 years. Once we reach the end of the life of the system and start seeing repairs, we notice that we see repairs continue yearly. The average repair is roughly $275. In the table below you can see what the cost of ownership would be for the next 3 years for this sample system.  

At the end of those three years, you would still be left in the same situation of needing to replace, but unfortunately, the investment in a new system will have gone up each of those years with normal inflation costs. So, the true decision is do you want to invest the $1,850 into your current system that you need to replace in the near future or put that $1,850 into a new system now.

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One Final Factor to Consider.

If your existing system is running on an outdated cooling refrigerant like R-22 then any repair, especially related to the refrigerant, should be considered a time to look at replacing that system. R-22 is an Ozone killer and there have been no cooling systems manufactured with this coolant since 2010.  

R-22 has now been out of regular production since January 2020. If your system is running on this refrigerant the only possible repairs will be with a contractor that either has an old supply of R-22 or offers a drop-in replacement. Drop-in replacements are not recommended as they lessen the efficiency of your air conditioning system even further. If your system leaks then we highly recommend you ask your technician for replacement options.  

If you are interested in knowing about your replacement vs repair options, please call Edge Guys Heating & Cooling today for a free estimate and consultation with our Home Comfort Advisor who can provide you with all of the options that will best suit you, your family, and any budget.  

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