The Top Three Signs It’s Time to Replace Your Furnace

Even the most robust and well-constructed furnace has its limits. When these limits are reached, you could experience a problem, and too many problems, or problems that are too large may mean it’s time to replace your furnace completely. Likewise, if you want to avoid the hassle of a serious problem, you might want to consider replacing your furnace early. Doing so will not only improve reliability, but increase energy efficiency as well.

But how do you know when time is right to replace your furnace? Replacing too late could lead to a disastrous stretch of going without heat when you need it, but replacing too early could be sacrificing on extra years of what would have otherwise been useful service from your system. While every situation is unique and we recommend talking about your replacement with a heating and cooling expert before making any decisions, here are the top three signs that it might be time to replace your furnace.

Your Furnace Is More than 20 Years Old

In general, a furnace can be expected to last anywhere from 15 to 25 years before it will need to be replaced. Some furnaces can even reach the age of 30 if they are properly cared for and maintained. However, at roughly the age of 20, almost any furnace begins to experience more regular problems, resulting in the need for repairs. While some of these repairs might be simple, larger repairs add up quickly, and before long you will be spending more to keep your furnace running than you would have making a sizeable down payment on an entirely new furnace to replace it. This isn’t to say that every 20-year-old furnace should be replaced automatically every time, but at the age of 20, you should strongly consider a full replacement if you find that your furnace needs to be fixed.

Running Your Furnace Brings Massive Energy Bills

Heating and cooling are big energy consumers in the first place, so naturally running your heater for long periods of time is going to add up to some pretty hefty bills. However, an older furnace is going to bring those bills up even higher than they were before. As furnaces age, they consume more energy, and this aging effect only compounds when you don’t properly maintain your furnace. Before long, your system might be using a large percentage of additional energy than it did in seasons past, and as a result you face bills that are growing wildly out of control.

This is one reason we strongly recommend a total furnace replacement: if your furnace is more than 20 years old, the increase in baseline energy efficiency alone can save you hundreds of dollars per year in energy. Combined with the fact that even today’s “minimum” SEER levels are quite a bit higher than they were even just 10 years ago, it’s easy to see how a furnace replacement could help bring your utility bills back down in a big way.

Your Furnace Makes Strange Noises or Smells Funny

Finally, you should consider replacing your furnace when it starts showing signs that it needs to be replaced. When we get sick, we typically show this in the form of symptoms: a fever, a nasty cough, nausea, sore throat, or even a headache, just to name a few. Well, when your furnace gets “sick,” this illness manifests itself in symptoms as well. A professional technician can fix the problem and “heal” your system, but after a while this simply isn’t feasible anymore, and it’s time to replace your system completely. The good news is that unlike a loved one, your furnace can be replaced rather easily.

Two examples of some symptoms that could indicate a serious problem with your home are strange, loud noises, and odd smells that are difficult to ignore. For example, if your furnace starts to make a loud screeching sound when it turns on, then you could have a serious problem with your blower fan. If you smell burning plastic, then you could have an electrical short flooding your wires with current that is melting the insulation around them.

Does your furnace need an urgent repair service? Are you considering a total furnace replacement? Make the call to Service Today by dialing (888) 998-2032 to schedule an appointment.