When its cold outside, the health and operation of your home’s furnace is obviously fundamental to your comfort. If you’re experiencing furnace difficulties, you may be wondering whether it makes sense to repair or replace your furnace. There are multiple factors that will help you resolve which option is best for you. Your Dayton area HVAC professional can help you evaluate your needs and your broken HVAC system to determine whether furnace repair or replacement is the ideal short- and long-term answer for your Dayton home.
When Repair Is Best
Oftentimes, furnace issues can be easily identified and repaired by a ACE-certified, HVAC professional. If your furnace is new—i.e., less than 10 years of system life — it stands a very good chance that any issues it exhibits can be solved through repair. Furthermore, if your furnace is still heating your Dayton 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 trending increase in your heating bills with regular usage and your home is not having issues with uneven heating, your furnace is considered in good shape. Our recommendation 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 choice. Keep in mind 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 service advisor about upgrading your thermostat or checking the integrity of your Dayton home’s ductwork to see if he thinks these enhancement could advance the efficiency of your furnace. Talk to Stevenson Service Experts about scheduling regular furnace maintenance, which will add years of quality service from your furnace and help you prevent further repairs or drops in efficiency.
When Replacement Is Best
Sometimes, repair will not be able to affordably resolve your issues. The estimated lifetime of most furnaces is 15-20 years; after this point, the heating system will start to fail more and more often. Thus, if your furnace is already at least 15 years old, it is time to discuss replacement. Regardless of the age of your furnace, 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 a simple fix, if they aren’t keeping your furnace running for years at a time, these frequent smaller charges ultimately cost you more money. There are many 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. Also, your furnace may be struggling if it’s not sized correctly for your Dayton home size or heating needs. If your furnace isn’t sized or installed properly, you will probably need to consider a new unit instead of dealing with a heating system that lacks the capacity to properly heat your home.
If you have questions about whether repair or replacement of your Dayton home’s heating system is right for you, contact Stevenson Service Experts today.