Knowing When to Replace Rather Than Repair Your Air Conditioning

There is no escaping the fact that it will cost you more in the short-term to replace rather than repair an existing air conditioning unit. So the question is, when do you know it’s time to take the plunge and get rid of ‘old faithful’ and trade it in for a new model?

A good air-conditioning unit should last you between eight and twelve years. If you are running one that is older and it has started to give you continual problems and suffers from a lack of reliability, it’s definitely time to get a replacement. Look back over your maintenance costs for the last few years and also check your energy bills. If you use your air conditioner a lot, you may notice a greater increase in energy consumption – a sign that your unit is operating in a far from efficient manner. There is a handy rule that if your repair bills run to a figure that is more than 50% of the cost of a new unit, it’s time to get a replacement.

Have you noticed a reduction in how well your A/C unit works? Ask yourself if it is really worth paying to run a sub-standard unit when you could have a more effective and cheaper-to-run unit installed that will be trouble-free for many years to come, and leave you feeling fresh and cool in a way you had probably forgotten.

Getting an new air conditioning unit can also see you able to say goodbye to frustrating noises, water leaks, a visual eyesore and a unit you’re afraid to use unless in an emergency for fear of it breaking down (again).

As an additional incentive, as well as reducing operating costs of an air conditioning unit, continual advances in modern technology means that if your unit is ten years old, a new model will have new and better features, may well be more effective than your old unit was, even when it was new, and there are often useful incentives too. If you give us a call at (512) 836-1414 we’ll be happy to run you through any current discounts, what tax benefits may be available to you, and also advise you if your old unit contains an R-22 refrigerant. If it has, legislation demands that all such A/C units be disposed of by 2020, so now could be as good a time as any to get a new air conditioner.