s/o electric bills - how old is "old" HVAC?

[Miss Mousie]

Several people in the electric bill thread mentioned having or replacing old AC units.  We've been in our current house 14 years and haven't had to replace the furnace/AC; I don't remember what year it was originally installed.

 

Should I plan to replace it in the next year or two, or can we expect, say, another 5 years before it conks out?

 

If you have replaced a system, can you estimate your energy savings vs. cost of the unit & installation?

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Oh gawd I dread the day I have to replace the furnace.  They are very expensive!  

 

 

[Lady Florida.]

According to more than one A/C guy who have all serviced our unit at one time  -

 

Old = 10 years

Ancient = 15 years

 

Ours = approaching 20 years  :eek:

[Annie Elle]

Ours is also 20 years old. We just had a routine maintenance completed and everything checks out fine. I really hope we get a few more years out of it.

[Happy]

I kinda think it depends on where you live. Here is Texas, the climate is hard on AC units. Our unrelenting heat puts 'miles' on a system. (Like a car can be only a few years old, but have many, many miles on it.) Anything older than 10 years old needs a careful look each year.

Usually you'll start having issues a year or two before actual replacement is needed.

 

If it helps any, the newer systems are more energy efficient...our electric bill went down over $50 dollars a month (roughly) after we installed our new and larger system.

 

 

[Spryte]

According to more than one A/C guy who have all serviced our unit at one time -

 

Old = 10 years

Ancient = 15 years

 

Ours = approaching 20 years :eek:

Yes, this is what we've heard, too. Ours is approaching ancient as week, and we hope to limp out a few more years.

[Lady Florida.]

I kinda think it depends on where you live. Here is Texas, the climate is hard on AC units. Our unrelenting heat puts 'miles' on a system. (Like a car can be only a few years old, but have many, many miles on it.) Anything older than 10 years old needs a careful look each year.

Usually you'll start having issues a year or two before actual replacement is needed.

 

If it helps any, the newer systems are more energy efficient...our electric bill went down over $50 dollars a month (roughly) after we installed our new and larger system.

 

I think this is true and we have the same issue in Florida.

 

Our unit has become hard to find parts for, in addition to it not being very efficient. I think the age of the unit isn't so much an issue but as you said, newer units work much more efficiently. That's why people who upgrade to newer units save so much on the bill - the technology has improved.

[cjzimmer1]

When ours was 15 years old we started noticing that the cooling wasn't working as well, at 16 years we had someone come look at it and he said it was low on coolant.  He added more and said there was likely a small leak but said it wouldn't be cost effective to track it down (adding the coolant was less than $100 for time and materials).  Two years later we were having issues keeping the house cool and had him come back.  While it was slightly low, he said he wouldn't even charge us for the very small amount of coolant he added. It was 18 years old.  The furnace was still working fine but we went ahead and replaced both because the new AC wasn't compatible with the old furnace and the amount of retrofit that would have to be done wasn't worth the cost Especially since the old furnace was undersized for our house anyways.  It was just easier (and cheaper in the long run) to just do both now and be done with it.  We are in a climate where the furnace runs more than the AC so it was surprising that the AC gave out first.

 

Now that the new unit is it, I realize how poorly our old unit was performing but had simply adjusted my expectations.  With the old unit we had pockets of warm in the house that never really cooled down.  Like our main room, you could walk down the hall feel cool and walk into the mail room and actually feel a "wall" of warm air and then when you moved closer to the vents it would be cool again.  I didn't realize how poorly the air was circulating until now where every area is uniformly the same temperature.

Edited August 29, 2016 by cjzimmer1

[SparklyUnicorn]

I kinda think it depends on where you live. Here is Texas, the climate is hard on AC units. Our unrelenting heat puts 'miles' on a system. (Like a car can be only a few years old, but have many, many miles on it.) Anything older than 10 years old needs a careful look each year.

Usually you'll start having issues a year or two before actual replacement is needed.

 

If it helps any, the newer systems are more energy efficient...our electric bill went down over $50 dollars a month (roughly) after we installed our new and larger system.

 

Our climate is hard on both!

 

We only have window units, but yeah in the summer we broil.  In the winter we freeze.  We've got it all.

[KatieJ]

We replaced our A/C just after 15 years.  WE did the furnace at the same time, it was over 20 years old, but still working.  DH knew the furnace was older, and it was cheaper to just do them both rather than wait and do the furnace later.  We paid under 7,000 for both units and some additional duct work that needed addressing.  Our bills have been lower and our house more comfortable all year round.

[mellifera33]

Our furnace is at least 20 years old. So far, dh has been able to fix it when it quits, but we're probably looking at replacing it in the next few years. We're in the PNW, so no central air, just a window unit in the attic bedroom.

 

Ten years ago, when we were looking for a house, we looked at a house, built in 1920, that still had its original furnace. It was monstrous--took up most of the basement--and had somehow been converted from coal to gas at some point. We didn't realize the furnace was so old, and we had put an offer on the house. When the inspector arrived, he took me aside, and said, "Before I inspect the house, I want you to know that I've been here before, and the furnace needs to be replaced. If you don't want to deal with that, let's skip the inspection and I won't charge you." We went ahead with the inspection, but as you can imagine, a house with an 80-year-old furnace hadn't been updated a whole lot over the years. Original wiring, fire-hazard breaker box, lots of wiring in exposed conduit in random areas of the house, balconies with balusters that would let a child slip through, etc. We ended up passing. 

[mamaraby]

Ours was ancient when we replaced it. I think we replaced it in 2009? At the time we qualified for a weatherization program. To replace the furnace, a/c, and other assorted weatherization tasks it was $10k. We did notice a change in our electric/gas bills. I'm dubious about how much the "weatherization" contributed to that savings. I think replacing the furnace and a/c contributed to the lions share of that savings.

 

Having replaced all of the mechanicals in our house, there are some things I miss about our old ones. The new ones seem awfully fiddly.

[BlsdMama]

Ours is  22.

 

Just one more year, pretty please???