Heating and cooling is where comfort and the bill meet.
Your heating and cooling system is one of the largest single drivers of both your energy bill and how the house feels. Knowing its age and how hard it works lets you plan a replacement instead of reacting to one.
Free to check. No calls unless you ask.
Property report. No calls unless you ask.
Why it matters
Replacing on your own schedule, sized correctly for the house, costs far less than an emergency replacement on the hottest or coldest day of the year, when you have no time to compare anything.
The service life given to a residential air conditioner. Furnaces get 15 to 20, heat pumps 16, and the ductwork itself 10.
National Association of Home Builders, Study of Life Expectancy of Home Components, 2007
The standard policy form excludes “mechanical breakdown”. A system that dies of old age is not a claim, which is why the replacement almost always arrives as a surprise bill.
ISO Homeowners 3 Special Form HO 00 03 10 00 (2000), Section I Exclusions 2.c.(6)(b)
The age, the size and the efficiency are all stamped on a plate on the unit. Reading it takes thirty seconds and somebody standing in front of it.
What to understand
A few things worth knowing before you decide.
System age
Most systems have a predictable working life, so age alone tells you most of what happens next.
Sizing
A system too large for the house short-cycles and wears out early. Too small and it never catches up.
Efficiency
A newer system can cut the cooling or heating share of your bill, and that share is larger in a harder climate.
Start with your property.
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