If your furnace has already been providing solid service for a number of years, the thought may occur to you that it will eventually need to be replaced. But just when will that become necessary? It’s good to have some kind of idea when the useful life of your furnace will expire, because it’s a fairly major expense that you’ll need to plan for, and you certainly don’t want to be without furnace service in Michigan during the winter time. So let’s talk about the question “Is it Time to Replace Your Furnace?”
When the time is right, we hope you’ll contact us at Atlas Heating and Cooling, so we can install a fine new energy-efficient Lennox brand furnace at your Shelby Township residence. We serve a broad region in this same area, so by all means contact us if you live anywhere around Shelby Township or any of the nearby communities.
Signs that your furnace needs replacement
The most obvious indicator that you might need to replace your furnace is its age. Most experts agree that if you have maintained your furnace well throughout its lifetime, that it will last between 15 and 20 years. If you purchased the furnace when you bought your home, you will be aware of its age and all maintenance which has been performed on it.
However, this isn’t always the case, and you may not have a clear idea about the age of your furnace, so you will have to pay attention to other signals as well. When you begin to notice that the severity of repairs needed by your furnace is increasing, or that the frequency of repairs is greater, this should be a warning signal to you that it’s not functioning as well as it once did.
You may already have reached the point where major repairs to your furnace are not cost-effective, because purchasing a new one might actually be more economical. The same is true when you notice that your energy bills are rising each month, because this could be a signal that your furnace is drawing more power in order to perform its normal heating duties.
It becomes a question of throwing good money after bad, and when you reach this point, it’s probably more beneficial to simply install a new furnace. You might consider yourself lucky if you have a furnace which is 20 or perhaps 25 years old and still functioning well, but if it is drawing a great deal more energy than it did when it was new, it could be costing you a lot more to heat your household.
The advice of a professional
One very valuable tool you can use to determine the right time to replace your furnace, would be to hire a professional to do an inspection at the beginning of a cold season. If it turns out that you need significant repairs or a great deal of maintenance in order to ensure proper heating through winter, that may be a sign that replacement is the best choice.
It could also be worth your while to ask the advice of your heating contractor so as to get a professional opinion about the status of your furnace. When you have one of our heating specialists at Atlas Heating and Cooling inspect your furnace, we can give you an accurate and honest assessment of the health of your furnace, and whether or not it should be replaced in the near future.