When you buy a home, you are buying a permanent place to call your own. You are also buying a non-optional steep learning curve that covers everything you never realized you needed to know about taking care of your new pad!
One of the most confusing challenges all homeowners eventually have to tackle is the decision about whether to repair or replace a major appliance like an air conditioner or furnace.
An even more challenging dilemma comes when you have to decide whether to replace just your air conditioner, just your furnace, or both at the same time.
While it is true that the investment is more significant if you choose to replace both components at once, there are also additional savings to be had that you won’t get in any other way.
As we welcome in a whole new year and you begin planning your home maintenance budget for the 12 months yet ahead, we thought now would be a great time to explore the benefits of replacing your A/C and furnace systems together!
P.S. Read on to learn how you can save up to $3,000 if you replace both your air conditioner and furnace at the same time!
How to Know Your A/C or Furnace Is Ready to Retire
According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), a traditional air conditioning unit has about 10 years of useful life before it should be retired. Similarly, a traditional furnace system has about 15 years of useful life before it makes good financial sense to retire it.
Of course, here you face a gap of about five years, when your furnace may still be viable and your air conditioner is chomping at the bit to breathe its last. If this is the case, you will need to weigh the pros and cons of switching out your furnace early in the interests of other types of cost savings we will discuss next.
Reasons to Upgrade Your Whole System At Once
The first and most obvious savings opportunity that arises when you choose to replace your A/C and furnace system as a combo is energy-efficiency savings.
- Air conditioner or heat pump. You can save up to 20 percent on cooling costs by replacing your current A/C unit with a new Energy Star-certified unit.
- Furnace. You can save up to 15 percent on heating costs by replacing your current furnace with a new Energy Star-certified furnace.
- Boiler. If you opt for a heating boiler rather than a furnace, you can still save up to 5 percent on heating costs.
Depending on the cost of energy in your province, these energy efficiency savings may or may not have the wow factor you’re looking for to convince you it’s worth it to upgrade your whole heating and cooling system at once.
But now, try these DOE statistics on for size: an estimated 50 percent of your annual energy budget goes to heating and cooling costs.
Here, the savings can really start to add up. According to the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario (FAO), annual homeowner energy expenses range from $1,194 to $3,678, with an average of $2,436.
Let’s say you decided to go without heating or air conditioning this year. Assuming your spending on energy is average, you could save up to $1,218 to spend elsewhere or save for the future!
Of course, no one wants to forego A/C and heating in Canada! So let’s look at a more realistic option. Instead, perhaps you decide to replace your 10-year-old air conditioner and furnace together, netting you an average estimated energy savings of 17.5 percent for the entire next year.
Again assuming your spending on energy is average, this would net you a potential savings of $426 over the following year. Not too shabby, right? That is almost $500 extra you would have to save, spend, or invest elsewhere!
Smart Reasons to Upgrade As a Combo
In addition to the potential energy savings described in the previous section here, plus the undeniable benefit of reducing your personal carbon footprint and helping conserve our planet’s disappearing natural resources, there are some other smart reasons to consider upgrading your A/C and heater as a combo.
- Your A/C or furnace is oversized or undersized for your space.
- Your repair bills are slowly but surely escalating for both units.
- The noise level emanating from your heater and A/C unit is increasing.
- Your units don’t have a programmable thermostat and can’t be retrofitted.
- Your duct system is the old school “octopus” model and it is leaking air everywhere.
- A new combo system would give you the chance to change energy sources and save.
- You are ready to install indoor air quality components to stay healthier.
Each of these reasons translates to additional time and cost savings moving forward. You spend less on repairs, upgrade to the newest refrigerant and filtration options, stay healthier with cleaner indoor air, and delete the “emergency HVAC repairs” line item from your budget.
Save $3,000 on the Purchase of an A/C and Furnace Combo!
Right now, you can save up to $3,000 on the purchase of any qualifying A/C and furnace combo!
With your purchase, you also reap the increased energy savings described here and benefit from the expert installation.
Contact us online, or give us a call at 905-549-4616 to reserve your combo. Happy New Year!
