At some point while living in your Spring, TX home, you’ll likely face the question of whether it’s time to replace your furnace. Here are some signs that it’s time to plan a replacement before you’re left with a furnace that’s completely failed.
Aging Furnace
15 to 20 years is the expected lifespan for most residential furnaces if they receive proper maintenance. The older the unit gets, the more the baseline operational strain it experiences. During rare record-setting cold spells, like in February 2021, the system may fail under the added strain.
Planning to replace your furnace as it ages prevents having to replace it urgently. Planning a replacement affords you off-season savings and the greatest availability of replacement systems, too.
Climbing Energy Consumption
An aging furnace will slowly lose some efficiency due to wearing components, air leaks and more. You’ll best notice waning efficiency when comparing a month’s data to the same month in the year prior. Unexplainable jumps in fuel or energy signal that it’s time to call a technician to evaluate whether it warrants a replacement.
Increasing Repair Frequency and Cost
Aging systems have internal components that wear out and need replacing. You can tell when it’s time for a replacement by tracking your repair expenses.
Add all of the furnace repairs over the last two years and multiply that by the system’s current age. If that exceeds the cost of a new system, it might be time to start planning for a replacement.
Obvious Corrosion
Finally, consider the physical condition of your system, especially what you can see without disassembling it. Visible corrosion on the furnace house indicates excess wear throughout the system. Even if you haven’t seen a spike in repairs yet, visible corrosion suggests that it’s not that far in the future.
An aged and wearing furnace leaves you paying too much to heat your home and increases the operational risks. Schedule a new furnace installation consultation with one of the NATE-certified technicians at Total Comfort A/C Systems.
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