Stop Replacing Your AC Unit Too Soon!!!

so your AC system is starting to act up so you end up calling a local contractor to come out and take a look at it the HVAC Tech looks over your system and he tells you hey your system's getting pretty old and you're going to need to replace it pretty soon [Music] might be thinking to yourself is that really the case because I was hoping to get a few more years out of it the whole HVAC industry operates off of system changeouts so sometimes you get caught up in the contractors trying to sell you a system before it really needs to be replaced even though it still has a few more good years in it in this video we're going to be covering the average life expectancy of an HVAC system that way a contractor doesn't come along and try to scam you I'm also going to cover tips and best practices on how to get the most out of your HVAC system as well hi this is Kenneth with Atlas AC and at any point during this video if you find it to be helpful please hit the like button and that will really help me out with the YouTube algorithm the lace of groundwork we are located in Texas and the Summers here can just get absolutely brutal so that's going to have a bigger toll on an AC system than what you would see up north and the way that we're coming up with the averages on how often system changeouts need to take place is just simply based on our customers you see we don't have anybody on Commissions in our organization so there's nobody selling anything to anyone we simply just give our customers the option to either repair or replace their system and then educate them on both in the implications of both and they make up their own mind based off of what's best for them and their family now that that's out of the way on average what we find for heat pump systems is they usually last in between 15 to 18 years and for a straight cool system they're going to last closer to 20 years the reason why heat pump systems don't last as long is because they both cool and heat so they run all year round versus a straight cool system you know they don't heat it all they only cool so they don't run as much however a heat pump system is the most efficient way to heat your home so there is some offset there and again that is on average sometimes you can get a lot more life out of them sometimes they end up being a little shorter for example we've worked on systems that are 30 and 40 years old and they're still going strong to this day we've also had to replace newer systems that were less than 10 years old due to a shoddy install there's a lot of different things that can be done in order to extend the life of an HVAC system and I'm going to Rattle off just a few so there are really just three major things to look at how is it installed how is it maintained and how do you run it the most important factor when it comes to the longevity of an AC system is the installation that's right it has to be done right the first time if an AC system just isn't installed correctly it can dramatically reduce the life expectancy of the system and it can also be a major headache for the homeowner because then you're just always working on it and fixing it as well I'll probably make another video on this subject in the future because there are a couple tricks that any homeowner can use to help ensure that the install gets done properly the first time the next thing up is doing routine preventative maintenance by having a technique machine come out once or twice a year to PM your system it's going to help make sure that your system is running in Tip-Top shape so this helps your AC system run as efficiently as possible so it's not having to overwork in order to heat and cool your house they can also catch components that are starting to fail this can help prevent a major disaster down the road also keep in mind many HVAC contractors use PM as a way to get in your house and potentially sell you something so if your AC system has been running just fine with little to no issues and you have a technician come out to PM it and they're telling you that you need a two thousand dollar repair I would be a little leery and probably get a second opinion and another one which is kind of surprising to me is routine filter changes we see it a lot with rental properties and first-time homeowners where you know they'll call us out and because the system isn't Heating and Cooling properly and we find that the filter hasn't been changed in between six months and a year the filter is so impacted with dirt that very little air can flow through it this is tantamount to trying to run a marathon breathing through a straw so basically what this leads to is your AC system is going to have to work twice as hard to get the job done which in turn leads to a shorter life expectancy next up is how do you run your AC system for example every now and then we'll run across a customer that is looking to run their AC around 65 degrees in the middle of summer when it's 105 degrees outside that's a 40 degree split in between the indoor and outdoor temperatures and AC systems are just simply not designed to operate at that level now I am over exaggerating a little bit to make a point because there's not that many 105 degree days during the summer here in Texas however in the middle of the summer if you are trying to run your AC system in the in the 60s or even in the very low 70s it's just not going to keep up it's just going to run all the time which is going to impact the life expectancy of the system now if you run your AC around let's say 78 to 80 degrees in the middle of a Texas summer that's a lot more practical on how these systems are designed And to clarify I am talking about just a simple average home so nothing fancy or crazy because it is possible to design a solution where you can hang the meat in your home during the middle of summer also I'm talking about the cooling component of an HVAC system because the heating part you know we have basically mild Winters down here so it's just it's it's not as important for US unless it's the winner of 2021 when we had that massive ice storm that almost shut down our grid so if your HVAC system was installed correctly and you do all the proper maintenance and you run it according to how it was designed to be ran I would expect you to get 20 plus years out of an HVAC system if you enjoyed this video you might be interested in checking out our price list and buyer's guide which you can find our website in the description below it might be a helpful sounding board if you're looking to replace your AC system until next time have a good one

Channel: Atlas AC

Views: 125,459

Keywords: how long do ac units last, how long do air conditioners last, air conditioning, ac not blowing cold air, air conditioner, ac not working, hvac replacement, ac unit replacement, new ac unit replacement, air conditioner replacement

Id: EKBueP7_n7c

Length: 6min 27sec (387 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 06 2023