When its cold outside, the health and function of your home’s furnace is obviously vital to your comfort. If you’re experiencing furnace troubles, you may be wondering whether it is ultimately more sensible to repair or replace your furnace. There are multiple factors that will decide upon which option is best for you. Your West Palm Beach area HVAC professional can help you assess your needs and your broken HVAC system to determine whether furnace repair or replacement is the best short- and long-term answer for your West Palm Beach home.
When Repair Is Best
Oftentimes, furnace troubles can be easily diagnosed and repaired by a ACE-certified, HVAC professional. If your furnace is new—i.e., less than ten years old — odds are highly likely that any issues it experiences can be solved through repair. Furthermore, if your furnace is still heating your West Palm Beach area home efficiently (your HVAC professional can help you confirm this), then it is still likely and more affordable to repair it. Commonly, as long as you are not seeing a steady increase in your heating bills with continual usage and your home is not having issues with uneven heating, your furnace is deemed operationally sound. Conventional wisdom relating to furnace repairs is that if the repairs you must get are less than one-third of the expense of a new heating system and your furnace is in the first half of its predicted lifetime, repair is likely your best decision. Keep in mind that even if you are experiencing a decrease in heating efficiency, there are other routes you can explore before considering replacing your furnace. Talk to your HVAC technician about upgrading your thermostat or checking the integrity of your West Palm Beach home’s ductwork to see if he thinks these enhancement could advance the efficiency of your furnace. Talk to Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning about scheduling regular furnace maintenance, which will keep your furnace functioning its best and help you minimize further repairs or drops in efficiency.
When Replacement Is Best
Eventually, repair will not be able to affordably resolve your issues. The expected lifetime of most furnaces is 15-20 years; after this point, the heating system will begin to fail more and more often. Therefore, if your furnace is nearing or passed the 15 year mark, it is time to discuss replacement. Irregardless of equipment age, if you’ve been calling your HVAC service provider for repairs too often, this could also be a sign that it’s time to consider replacement. Although repairs may seem like an easy 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 a variety of things that may determine whether replacement is appropriate for you including the quality of your original furnace installation and the capacity of your furnace. Installation means everything in terms of furnace effectiveness. Furthermore, your furnace may be struggling if it’s not sized according to specs for your West Palm Beach home size or heating needs. If your furnace isn’t sized or installed properly, you should consider replacing the system and starting anew, rather than continually addressing breakdowns and poor function.
If you have questions about whether repair or replacement of your West Palm Beach home’s heating system is right for you, contact Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning today.