Spring maintenance for your air conditioning system is one of the most important services for it. If you stay current with maintenance each year, you can expect your AC to have a long service life with few repairs and high energy efficiency.
But someday, maintenance won’t be enough. Eventually, you’ll need to have your air conditioning system replaced. And maybe this is the spring when you have your aging AC hauled to the recycling yard and have our technicians put in a new one.
How can you tell if this is the time to retire your air conditioning system? There are several ways, although we recommend you talk to us to get a professional opinion before you make a decision. After all, you will need our technicians to handle the actual replacement when the time comes.
The System’s Age
Let’s start with the basics: How old is your AC? If you aren’t sure, you’ll find the manufacturer date on the information plate located on the condenser unit. The average central air conditioning system will last from 10 to 15 years. If your AC is older than 15 years, even if it seems to be working fine otherwise, we recommend having it replaced.
The Refrigerant Type
While you’re checking the AC’s age on the plate, see what refrigerant it uses. If it’s listed as “R-22,” then we advise having it replaced right away. This is a refrigerant blend that has been phased out of use, and if your AC breaks because of a refrigerant leak, it cannot be repaired. A new AC will use the current R-410A refrigerant.
Frequency of Repairs
An air conditioning system will need the most repairs during the second half of its service life, but even then it still shouldn’t be an annual event. If you’ve had to repair your AC each year to keep it running, or twice in one year, that’s too much.
Cost of Repairs
Related to how often you need to make repairs is how much they cost. You don’t want to sink so much money into repairs that it makes the air conditioner too expensive to keep. Any single repair that is more than half the cost of the quote on a new air conditioner is too much, and cumulative annual costs of more than $500 are also too much.
Loss of Energy Efficiency
Or, “Does it cost much more to run the AC than it used to?” An air conditioner that is regularly maintained will keep approximately 95% of its energy efficiency rating through most of its lifetime, and only start to lose efficiency in the last two years. So if you’ve noticed you’re paying much more on your cooling costs than before, it might be because the AC is coming to its end.
You can trust our team for a new air conditioning installation in Indianapolis, IN. We’ll give you an honest assessment of your current AC and offer you options. We’ll guide you to the best way forward with your home cooling.
Call Vital Heating & Air because “Your Comfort is Vital!” Your Indianapolis Licensed HVAC Contractor.
