Home HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems in most climates will be a heavy consumer of energy. In hot climates, it can represent 60% or more of your total electric bill. If your system is ten years old or older, it is an ideal candidate for an upgrade. Air conditioning systems are classified by SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Index). It’s kind of a car’s MPG rating. The higher the number, the more energy efficient and less energy it will consume for the amount of cooling compared to a lower SEER rated system. A system 10 years or older was likely rated 10 SEER or less when new. As they age, they can lose efficiency due to loss of compression and heat transfer restrictions, such as a dirty or damaged coil. If you have an older unit in need of repair, you may be tempted to spend the few hundred or thousand dollars it may take to get it up and running rather than the thousands it would take to replace it with a high-efficiency system. Often times, repairs can be the best alternative on a tight budget or in the event that you don’t plan to stay in the house long enough to get an ROI (return on investment) from the new system.

But in the long run, it may cost more to repair an older unit than to replace it. If you have an average 2,000 square foot home with a 4 ton air conditioning unit, it could cost around $ 5,000.00 to replace plus or minus a thousand or more, depending on the grade of equipment and everything that is involved with the installation. If this hypothetical system needed repairs in the typical $ 600- $ 1,000.00 range, it might appear to save you around $ 4000.00 by repairing rather than replacing it. But you need to factor in the operating cost and future repairs and maintenance for a true cost comparison. If your system begins to need repairs in that price range, chances are good that year after year it will need even more repairs as it ages. If you are adding refrigerant due to a leak and you don’t repair it, you are guaranteed at least one, but probably several service calls a year to keep it cool. Finding and repairing small hole leaks in the coil can also cost a lot. Coil leak repair can be very difficult. When the coil starts to leak, there are likely many small leaks in the tube where the fin makes contact with the tube. This is due to electrolysis caused by the contact of two different metals and the presence of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that have condensed on the coil and contribute to the formation of these pores. Repairing them is a complicated process and can result in less than desired results. Repairing a leak can open a nearby one. Even if successful, system efficiency can never return to even its original low 10 SEER rating, much less improve it. Loading a leaky system to “survive” also contributes to the cost of operating that system. You have service costs plus rising operating costs as the system loses refrigerant and becomes less and less efficient.

So let’s look at the verses of the $ 5,000.00 system that maintain your old system for a period of only five years. From the beginning, we already know that it will cost approximately $ 1,000.00 for the system to operate even at a low efficiency level. So now we are down to $ 4,000.00. Now let’s say you have a very modest projected $ 350.00 average in maintenance and service cost over Years 2-5. Now, that new system is costing you only $ 2,600.00. Most systems will have a 10-year parts warranty, so even if something goes wrong, at least the parts will be covered. The labor for repairs on the new system will be at least 1 year and up to 10 years can be added for around $ 500.00 on most systems.

We haven’t even talked about saving energy costs yet. According to operating cost comparison software using 0.11 cents per kilowatt hour and a modest rate increase of 3% per year, you would save $ 2,092.00 in air conditioning costs when upgrading to a 14 SEER Energy Star rated system from 10 SEER system. And this assuming your 10 SEER system is still running at 10 SEER. I can tell it won’t be. Savings will vary.

According to the same cost comparison software, government studies have also shown an increase in home values ​​of around $ 7,800.00 when performing this update. When we extend the time frame to the expected average life of the system to 20 years, your savings exceed $ 10,000 in operating costs.

Therefore, waiting until the old system does not completely replace it can cost you much more in energy cost and convenience than replacing it now.