During the winter heating season, the health and operation of your home’s furnace is obviously vital to your comfort. If you’re experiencing furnace problems, you probably are wondering whether it makes sense to repair or replace your furnace. There are multiple factors that will determine which option is best for you. Your Memphis area HVAC technician can help you evaluate your needs and your current HVAC system to determine whether furnace repair or replacement is the ideal short- and long-term answer for your Memphis home.
When Repair Is Best
Oftentimes, furnace issues can be easily sourced and repaired by a ACE-certified, HVAC professional. If your furnace is new—i.e., less than 10 years of system life — chances are very good that any issues it has can be solved through repair. Additionally, if your furnace is still heating your Memphis area home efficiently (your HVAC professional can help you verify this), then it is still likely and more affordable to repair it. Typically, as long as you are not seeing a steady increase in your heating bills with regular usage and your home is not having issues with uneven heating, your furnace is deemed operationally sound. A good general rule of thumb about furnace repairs is that assuming the repairs you need are less than one-third of the cost of a new heating system and your furnace is in the first half of its anticipated lifetime, repair is likely your best option. Don’t forget that even if you are experiencing a reduction in heating efficiency, there are other avenues you can explore before considering replacing your furnace. Talk to your HVAC technician about upgrading your thermostat or checking the integrity of your Memphis home’s ductwork to see if he thinks these HVAC products could improve the efficiency of your furnace. Talk to Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning about scheduling regular furnace maintenance, which will ensure your furnace is in top condition and help you minimize further repairs or drops in efficiency.
When Replacement Is Best
In some cases, repair will not be able to affordably resolve your issues. The anticipated lifetime of most furnaces is 15-20 years; thereafter, the heating system will begin to fail more and more often. Therefore, if your furnace is already at least 15 years old, it is time to think about replacement. Regardless of the age of your furnace, if you need your HVAC service provider for repairs frequently, this could also be a sign that your furnace is beyond help and requires a replacement. Although repairs may seem like a simple fix, if they aren’t keeping your furnace functioning for years at a time, these frequent smaller charges ultimately cost you more money. There are several things that may determine whether replacement is appropriate for you including the quality of your original furnace installation and the capacity of your furnace. Having your furnace installed properly is critical to the performance of the unit. Furthermore, your furnace may be struggling if it’s not sized according to specs for your Memphis home size or heating needs. If your furnace isn’t sized or installed properly, you might want to buy the correct unit versus trying to get the wrong unit to perform beyond it’s capacity.
If you have questions about whether repair or replacement of your Memphis home’s heating system is right for you, contact Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning today.