Typical Life of HVAC systems

[54regcab]

What is the typical lifespan of equipment that has been installed properly and kept clean/maintained? My system is a Carrier 12SEER from 2000, and I know it *could* go anytime, but when to start saving up for a new one?

[oldgoodman]

What is the typical lifespan of equipment that has been installed properly and kept clean/maintained? My system is a Carrier 12SEER from 2000, and I know it *could* go anytime, but when to start saving up for a new one?

I just replaced my upstairs system that was installed in 1991. It was "working", but not great. The bonus room was an issue with the old one, now it's one of cooler rooms upstairs.

Still have the old system downstairs, and will keep it until it fails.

[SkyHeating]

Systems last anywhere from 6 months to 30 years. In my experience I see furnaces lasting up to 25 years before failures become a huge problem or parts are no longer made, and about 20 years on a condensing unit, highly dependant on how clean the coils are kept and if there are no leaks during the system life.

But there are always outliers. I have seen 6 month old furnaces so poorly installed they needed to be removed and I have seen 30 year old heat pumps still working well(just terribly inefficient compared to new ones)

[catmanacman]

i would start saving now although it might last another 10 years

[skippedover]

The definition of an 'average' life span is that it is the median life of all the failures below the median as well as all the units above the median. So in reality, 'average' means nothing. The many variables that can determine the life of a system include running times, cycles, vintage of the system and operating conditions. A properly designed and installed system stands a much better chance of beating the odds than a system that is poorly designed and/or installed.

I must admit to being baffled by the expectation that a relatively inexpensive piece of equipment that operates 24/7 without monitoring should be expected to last well beyond the lifespan of an automobile that costs from 2 to 20 times as much and last from 1/3 to 1/20 of the life span. And in addition to that, when it does come time to replacement, the question always seems to be "what's the payback?"

So the broad average seems to be about 15-years, given an average design, average run times and average temperature settings using average equipment.

[Hunter844]

I always say 15 to 25 years depending on how well it's installed and maintained. There is no right or wrong answer and different areas of the country are also going to yield different results due to how hard or easy the equipment has to work.

Do you know if your system is a Puron system or R22? We installed a lot of Bryant's around that time (same as Carrier), many of the Puron air handler evap coils developed leaks after a few years.

Saving for unexpected household repairs is always a smart thing and perhaps the #1 thing homeowners don't do. If you can start putting back X amount per week into a fund and know what you paid for the last system...you can add to that price due to inflation to guess where you'll need to be. Good luck.

[dan sw fl]

Using the WAGNIR Method

Oceanside ------ 4 years

No maintenance - 7 years

South ---------- 14 years

North ----------- 24 years

[54regcab]

System is an R22, I suppose the 12 SEER was ahead of it's time, not very common in 2000. 1st owner of the house worked at a HVAC company, that might explain the "upgraded" unit. Unit it about twice the physical size of my next door neighbor's and they are both 3 ton. I thought my unit ran less than the neighbors just because it looked bigger (thought it was more tons, houses are the same size), silly me. I do clean the outdoor coil every season regardless if it looks dirty or not. I haven't messed with the indoor coils or the furnace other than making sure the blower is clean and the burners have a solid blue flame.