Efficient furnaces help to lower heating bills and provide better comfort for you and your entire family, so making sure your furnace meets energy efficiency standards is important. Younger furnaces can be maintained and repaired, but older furnaces cost more to repair. Furnaces lose efficiency as they age, and replacing a furnace over repairing one can actually be more cost efficient once your furnace reaches retirement. Purchasing a new furnace in place of one 15-years-old or older is an investment that will save you money and keep your home reliably warm.
Repair or Replacement: How to Decide What is More Cost Efficient For You
You can save thousands of dollars a year in heating costs with simple furnace maintenance and repair, but for a heavily malfunctioning, older or frequently maintenanced unit, the repair costs will begin to lose rather than save their money.
You must check for three things to decide whether repair or replacement is more cost efficient:
- Did your furnace have a dangerous malfunction?
- Is the furnace outdated?
- Does the furnace have a history of malfunctioning?
If the answer is yes to any of these three questions, you might benefit financially from replacing your unit entirely.
Examples of common furnace failures are clogged filters, non-dangerous mechanical wear, pilot issues, and thermostat malfunctions. Without proper upkeep and maintenance through companies like Centennial furnace repair, these failures could develop into natural gas leaks which could potentially cause fires and toxic gas emissions.
If your furnace has caused a fire, is over 15-years-old, and/or has a history of malfunctioning, seek replacement instead of repair. Not only would merely repairing failing or faulty systems be dangerous to you and your family, but it will likely cost more in repairs and maintenance in years to come.
Age and Efficiency: Why Furnaces Lose Efficiency as they Age
Most machinery, even well-maintained machinery, begins to malfunction after 15-20 years, and this includes furnaces. But why does this happen?
If you have an older furnace in an older home, you might notice that your furnace seems larger than more modern furnaces. This size difference between older and newer furnaces makes a difference in the efficiency of the furnace itself. This causes furnaces to short cycle, or switch on and off, and this hinders a furnace’s efficiency.
An older furnace’s inability to keep up with modern technology will also make it not as efficient, causing your energy bills to skyrocket as it ages.
Basic mechanical wear and tear will cause inefficiency in your furnace after time, no matter how much maintenance you have put into your unit’s upkeep. Time and use will always take its toll on machinery.
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