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🔥 Repair or Replace? How to Decide on Your Aging HVAC · Shafer Heating and Cooling Service Repair Podcast

• 0:02
  Nathan, it's good to see you. How are you? Hey, I'm doing great, Jim. How are you?
• 0:06
  I am phenomenal. Thank you so
• 0:07
  much for asking. Questions come in from Phyllis. You ready for this one?
• 0:11
  Yeah, let's do it. Phyllis wants to know, does it make sense or more financial
• 0:16
  sense to repair an aging system, HVAC system, heading into fall or go ahead
• 0:22
  and replace it before another Ohio summer arrives?
• 0:28
  Good question so i think a few things that uh need to look at phyllis when you're,
• 0:33
  when you're considering a decision that's a big decision to make right and uh
• 0:37
  ultimately our job you know our technicians in the home our comfort advisors us as a company,
• 0:42
  uh where we great contract will be is to educate right is to find the problems
• 0:47
  diagnose the problems the challenges be able to provide solutions for those and then you know,
• 0:53
  for you as the client it's your job to to choose what makes the most,
• 0:57
  sense for you based off of the situation, the budget, the financials, et cetera.
• 1:00
  Initially, though, when it comes down to it, you know, and you're looking at
• 1:05
  that system, I think we start to what makes the most sense to most people is,
• 1:08
  hey, what makes sense as far as how much money do I keep putting into this older
• 1:11
  system, right? So how old is this system?
• 1:13
  According to Consumer Reports in this part of the country, the average age is 12 years.
• 1:16
  Now, I have personally seen, worked on, taken out, you know,
• 1:20
  seen perfect systems at 20 and 30 and 40 years old, right? And I've seen them
• 1:26
  and taken them out and, or they weren't working at two and three and four years old, right?
• 1:31
  And so it depends on the systems that properly sized, designed and installed
• 1:34
  and serviced and cleaned, et cetera.
• 1:36
  But you take everything into perspective, the average consumer report says it's 12 years.
• 1:41
  Now, so the first question is, is how old are we? Is this a 15-year-old system,
• 1:45
  a 12-year-old system, a three-year-old system, et cetera?
• 1:47
  And so typically the general rule of thumb, right, that typically makes sense
• 1:51
  to have that conversation and to really, hey, let's drill down.
• 1:54
  Let's look at both options. Repair versus replace it is, hey,
• 1:57
  is it 10 years old or older, right, as an average?
• 2:01
  And is the cost of repairs greater than $1,000 as far as the repairs to get
• 2:07
  it back up and going? Now, you could be looking at some other things and upgrades
• 2:10
  and indoor air quality, things like that, but that's going to be the same as
• 2:12
  an old system as a new system.
• 2:14
  I'm talking like actual repairs to fix the system and keep that system running.
• 2:18
  If it is, if it's greater than $1,000 or greater than 10 years,
• 2:21
  it's the general rule of thumb, I guess, if you will, that we have found that
• 2:26
  makes the most sense for the homeowners to make a great logical decision to
• 2:29
  say, yes, you know what? I want to put that money into it and repair it.
• 2:32
  And or, you know what? Yes, it makes much more sense to protect my money, right?
• 2:36
  And invest it into a new system that has a 12-year parts and labor warranty
• 2:40
  that I have total peace of mind that is more efficient, right?
• 2:43
  That'll save you my utility costs, which we give a guarantee of 25% or better of utility savings.
• 2:49
  And they decide to go that route. Either is perfectly fine, but that's,
• 2:52
  I think, is some great criteria that helps make the most sense is,
• 2:57
  hey, what is the cost of ownership going to be to continue on with this if I
• 3:01
  go ahead and do those repairs versus look at those replacement options.
• 3:06
  Yeah, that's always the big question. Do I repair it or replace it?
• 3:11
  I like replacing if there's a question.
• 3:16
  Meaning that if it's going to cost me so much to repair it now and the system
• 3:23
  is so old and there are formulas for this. It's very simple.
• 3:26
  There are formulas for this.
• 3:28
  You can Google it. You can make up your own mind. And quite often it just makes
• 3:32
  sense. Same thing with a car or a truck.
• 3:34
  It just makes sense to start over again because you don't have to worry about
• 3:40
  it. Now, there are some people who are price sensitive, but when it comes to comfort in your home...
• 3:48
  There shouldn't be an issue with that. I mean, you have to get this done.
• 3:53
  And the good news is great financing options.
• 3:57
  Yeah, 100%. You can get, you know, people say, oh, that's a big investment.
• 4:00
  Why of all times right now?
• 4:02
  Because it never happens when we're thinking, oh, this week would be a great
• 4:06
  week. I hope I get to replace my AC. Like never know anybody to wake up and say that, right?
• 4:11
  And so the good thing is there's so many different options now,
• 4:13
  affordable payment plans.
• 4:14
  Because, you know, I mean, depending on the time of year, you know,
• 4:18
  of just promotional things with those and, you know, you always have,
• 4:21
  there's no money down and you don't have to make a payment for the first 30 days.
• 4:24
  And so, right, you've got time for even your first payment. So you can get brand
• 4:28
  new systems installed with all these warranties and things for 100,
• 4:31
  200 bucks a month, you know, and it's just set it and forget it, right?
• 4:35
  If there's an issue, call us, we'll take care of the rest. And so just makes
• 4:39
  it very, very simple moving forward.
• 4:41
  Like I said, not to mention, you know, we've seen oftentimes where people will
• 4:44
  save in their utility savings, right?
• 4:47
  That makes the monthly payment form on the new system, right?
• 4:50
  And so there's just lots of ways I think that, you know, oftentimes we don't
• 4:54
  know what we don't know. And so I think before you make that decision,
• 4:58
  right, ask the questions, give us a call, have one of our guys or gals come out.
• 5:02
  And let's look, we'll look through it with you, give you options both ways that
• 5:05
  you can make a good educated decision of what makes the most sense for you moving forwards.
• 5:10
  And if your system is 15 years old or older, you'd be shocked at the technology
• 5:17
  today, even if it's 10 years old.
• 5:19
  Oh, yeah. The technology is totally different and you will save a lot of money.
• 5:24
  Your system won't run as hard.
• 5:27
  Absolutely. 100%. Yeah, it's just like everything else. HVAC is not limited,
• 5:33
  to all the changes that have been happening over the past 2, 3, 5, and 10 years.
• 5:40
  It's right there the same way. So yeah, night and day difference in today's
• 5:43
  equipment than six, seven, eight years ago.
• 5:47
  Nathan, as always, thank you so much for joining me today on the program.
• 5:51
  Hey, my pleasure. Thanks for having me.