How do you know whether you should repair your furnace or replace it?
Fortunately, furnaces are designed to last 15 to 30 years when maintained well, and you can implement a few repairs throughout those years to hold onto your system as long as possible.
Nevertheless, knowing when to purchase a whole new furnace and when to take the more affordable repair route can be tricky.
To make things easier, the following is a detailed guide on “Should I repair or replace my furnace?”
Should You Repair or Replace Your Furnace? Common Issues to Consider
There’s no denying that the cost to install a new furnace can be expensive. On average, you should expect to pay $5,000 and $12,000. This is why determining whether you should repair or replace your furnace is important — even if your system goes down during the cold winter months.
The most common types of furnace problems that might require repair or replacement, depending on the type of furnace you have, include the following:
- Blown motor
- Broken thermostat
- Switch malfunctions
- Clogged or dirty filters
- Cracked heat exchanger
- Uneven heating or cooling
- Over cycling or short cycling
Although a simple repair or some simple maintenance can resolve a lot of these common problems, some situations might call for a complete furnace replacement. This is especially true if you have multiple furnace problems.
There are, nevertheless, numerous circumstances that merit emergency action and immediate furnace replacement. Next, I’d like to take you through those.
6 Reasons to Replace your Furnace
1. Your Furnace Emits Carbon Monoxide
If you think your furnace might be leaking carbon monoxide — or your CO detector is going off, and you aren’t sure why — don’t mess around! Leave your home immediately. After you’re out, call the fire department and wait for their directions. Then, once you’ve done that, call us to check it out and discuss installing a new furnace. Why?
Because carbon monoxide (CO) is extremely dangerous. This toxic, odorless, invisible gas can make you sick or even cause death. The only way to know for certain that your furnace is producing CO is to have a CO detector installed and ensure that it’s working. We can help you with this as well. Additionally, if you have any yellow flames in your furnace, this is also a sign of an issue. If your burner produces CO, you should replace it to keep you and your family safe.
2. Your Furnace is Old
Keeping up on furnace repairs over the years ensures your HVAC system runs properly and efficiently. Nevertheless, even a consistent maintenance record won’t keep your furnace running forever. Eventually, you have to decide when it’s time to cut your losses.
Most experts agree that 15 years is a good cutoff point for the lifespan of a home heating system. When deciding if you’ll replace or repair a furnace, 15 years is the standard point. If your furnace is older than that, it’s likely time to replace it rather than continue to invest hundreds or thousands of more dollars into repairs. This is the law of diminishing returns. Eventually, it’s no longer worth dumping money into it when you can get something new that will save you money.
3. Your Furnace is Making Loud Noises
Screeching, popping, banging, rattling, and squealing noises aren’t only loud and annoying — they’re also a sign that your furnace could be overheating, which causes metal to expand or grind against objects inside.
Having said that, if your system is still fairly new (like less than 10 years old) and you hear these types of noises, dirt could be the problem. Our team of local furnace repair technicians can clean your system and replace your air filters to address the issue. If it’s older unit, however, you might be due for a replacement.
4. Your Furnace Isn’t Warming Your Home Evenly
A frustration that’s common to poorly-functioning furnaces is uneven heating. While some rooms can be sweltering, others can be freezing cold.
If you have this problem and it persists, it might be time to replace your home heating system. Nevertheless, it’s important to make sure you read the reasons to repair your furnace below if this is your device’s only issue. Sometimes, uneven heating could be related to other (easier to repair) components of your HVAC system, such as ductwork or something else. If we find something as simple as a closed damper causing the problem, we could save you thousands by fixing it rather than replacing your furnace.
5. Your Furnace Repair Costs Are 30% or More Than Replacement Costs
We’ve said this before: At a certain point, you’ll want to cut your losses. At a certain point, it becomes more ideal to opt for furnace replacement. Certain types of repairs (especially repairs made beyond the 15-year mark) aren’t worth pouring money into.
The cost to replace a blown furnace motor, for example, could be up to $900 in some cases. Use roughly 30%, or around $1,500 to $2,000 in repairs, as a standard benchmark for determining whether you should repair or replace your home heating system.
6. Your Heating Bills Are Through the Roof
Older, less-efficient furnaces often cause your heating costs to creep up by tens or even hundreds of dollars more per month. This cost can be justifiable for a season or two, especially if your home heating system is still fairly new.
Nevertheless, a sudden spike of several hundred or even thousand dollars per year is unacceptable. This is a good reason to consider replacement. At the very least, you should give us a call for a professional opinion.
4 Reasons to Repair Your Furnace
Now that we’ve looked at our top six reasons to replace your furnace, we’ll look at the other side of the coin. The following are four common scenarios where repairing your home heating system makes more sense than replacing the entire unit.
1. You Plan to Sell Your Home Soon
Have you considered selling your home in the near future? In terms of sunken costs, it might make sense to preserve your furnace if it still has some life remaining in it. Investing a few hundred dollars into your heating system as a temporary solution — and hopefully, one that gives it a few more years of life — could save you thousands of dollars instead of buying a brand new furnace.
Nevertheless, it’s also important to keep in mind that a potential home buyer will see a lot more value in a newer HVAC system. In this case, furnace replacement would help you sell your home more quickly.
2. Slight Increase to Energy Bills
Minor increases to your home heating bill don’t always justify furnace replacement. Make sure you understand your maintenance guide and you are following through with its recommendations, which includes things like preventative maintenance and replacing air filters on a consistent basis.
In any case, doing this is one of the simplest and best furnace maintenance tips you can follow (for all home appliances, really). Drastic increases that don’t drop back down with proper maintenance could indicate it’s time for a replacement.
3. Your Thermostat Is Broken
Sometimes, your problem can be something very simple, such as a broken thermostat. If this is the reason your home won’t heat or cool, you’re in luck! This is rather common, and if it is broken or the battery is dead, there’s probably nothing wrong with the furnace itself. Additionally, there’s more good news: thermostat repair is one of the most common furnace repairs we make! It might only cost you as little as $20 to make the repair. That’s a lot less than the thousands you might spend on a new furnace.
4. Problems with Ductwork
Last but not least, another thing you’d repair is your ductwork system. Your home heating system, heat exchanger, vents, and air ducts all make up your home’s HVAC system. At times, loud banging, screeching, or other noises are related to lose or damaged ductwork rather than your furnace.
Purchasing a vent insulation cover (which run between $1 and $2 per square foot) can also be an affordable solution that might help with the problem. Having one of our professionals inspect your vents and ductwork and make any adjustments is also a solid plan B option instead of replacement.
If you have any other questions or if there’s anything else we can do, never hesitate to pick up that phone and give us a call! We are always standing by and ready to help at Five Star Home Services!
