In any place that has extremely cold winters, the furnace is one of the essential parts of a house. You wouldn’t be able to get through one of our local winters without a reliable gas furnace to provide life-giving warmth. It always pays to plan ahead when it comes to your home heating, and that’s why you’re reading this blog post: you’re wondering if your current furnace is too old to keep around. At what point are repairs and high heating bills no longer worth it? Is there a point where a furnace that’s too old becomes dangerous?
We’re experts at furnace replacement in Erie, CO and throughout Boulder, and we can offer you some advice about furnace age and when to move to a new furnace. But we can’t give you a solid answer on a blog post. After reading this, the best way forward is to schedule service with us to examine your furnace and offer you our professional opinion about whether it’s time for it to retire.
General Furnace Age
A gas furnace has an estimated lifespan of from 15 to 20 years, and some will go longer—although we don’t recommend trying to push one past 20. This life expectancy can decline, however, if the furnace has not received regular annual maintenance from pros. Be honest without yourself about how well you’ve had the furnace serviced, because if it’s missed many years, then getting up to 15 may already put it in a bad state.
The Cost of Heating
One of the signals of a furnace that’s getting too old is that it will cost more to run. This is the effect of wear and tear taking hold—even the most diligent maintenance can’t stave this off forever. During the last two years of a furnace’s life is when it will begin to lose its energy efficiency. If your bills have been steadily climbing in winter and it isn’t from an increase in gas prices, the furnace is probably ready for the recycling yard.
The Repair History
How often have you needed to repair your furnace during the last few years? You shouldn’t need to have to repair it every year, and if you’ve done it more than once in any year, you almost certainly are sinking too much into the furnace to keep it around. You can also look at the price of repairs to help judge if the furnace is near retirement: cumulative repair costs of $500 in a year is too much, as is any single repair that’s more than half the cost of a replacement.
Dangerous?
Although an old gas furnace isn’t a major safety hazard automatically, the possibility of one developing cracks on its heat exchanger is higher with age. You can have an inspection done to see if the furnace poses any threat if you’re concerned. If there is a cracked heat exchanger in an older furnace, it’s usually best to get a new furnace.
As we mentioned above, our technicians have the expertise to help you make the best choice for your heating future.
Meyers Heating & Air Conditioning serves Boulder, CO. Schedule service if you think you need to have a furnace replacement.