When its cold outside, the health and function of your home’s furnace is obviously critical to your comfort. If you’re experiencing furnace troubles, you probably are wondering whether it makes sense to repair or replace your furnace. There are several factors that will help you resolve which option is best for you. Your Fort Worth area HVAC professional can help you evaluate your needs and your current HVAC system to determine whether furnace repair or replacement is the best short- and long-term answer for your Fort Worth home.
When Repair Is Best
In most cases, furnace issues can be easily pinpointed and repaired by a ACE-certified, HVAC professional. If your furnace is new—i.e., under ten years — odds are highly likely that any issues it has can be solved through repair. Additionally, if your furnace is still heating your Fort Worth area home efficiently (your HVAC professional can help you determine this), then it is still probable that you will repair it. Usually, as long as you are not seeing a continuous increase in your heating bills with continual usage and your home is not having issues with uneven heating, your furnace is deemed operationally sound. Our recommendation about furnace repairs is that if the repairs you must get 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. Keep in mind that even if you are experiencing a drop 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 Fort Worth home’s ductwork to see if he thinks these HVAC products could advance the efficiency of your furnace. Talk to Stark Services about scheduling regular furnace maintenance, which will add years of quality service from your furnace and help you avoid further repairs or drops in efficiency.
When Replacement Is Best
At times, 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. Accordingly, if your furnace is nearing or passed the 15 year mark, it is time to discuss replacement. Beyond the factor of the age of your equipment, if you require your HVAC service provider for repairs on a regular basis, this could also be a sign that it’s time to consider replacement. Although repairs may seem like a basic 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 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. A furnace is only as good as its installation, making proper installation essential. Also, your furnace may be struggling if it’s not sized properly for your Fort Worth 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 Fort Worth home’s heating system is right for you, contact Stark Services today.