A lot of homeowners take their HVAC system for granted, not really thinking about it till the equipment malfunction or stops working altogether. But regular maintenance is essential for proper operation of your cooling and heating equipment. A basic idea of when you should start considering a system upgrade is also important. Otherwise, you’re liable to be left with no A/C in the middle of a Coastal Bend summer.
A basic HVAC maintenance timeline calls for preventative maintenance (aka maintenance tuneup) once a year for your cooling system and once a year for your heating system. In our South Texas climate, where cooling is used so much more than heating, you should even consider twice-yearly maintenance for your A/C or heat pump.
As for the expected service life of HVAC systems, central A/Cs and heat pumps generally last between 10–15 years, while furnaces may keep running from 15–20 years. But the service life may be shorter or longer depending on two primary factors. They are:
- Maintenance. If you neglect your HVAC equipment, it’s not going to last as long as if you don’t. Regular professional maintenance will result in optimum energy efficiency, better comfort, and more reliable and safer operation.
- Amount of usage. As with anything else, the amount you use your HVAC equipment will affect greatly how long it lasts. It’s no different than the car in your garage. If it has 180,000 miles, you can bet it’s not going to last as long as a similar model and year car with just 80,000 miles. With cooling and heating equipment, climate is like mileage. If your A/C is running 24/7 for most of the year, it will have a shorter service life than if it were cooling a home in Michigan. For our purposes here in Corpus Christi, that means your cooling system probably will need to be replaced at the low end of its estimated service life.
To discuss a cooling or heating system upgrade for your Corpus Christi-area home, or talk about your HVAC maintenance timeline, please contact us at CCAC, Inc.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Corpus Christi, Texas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about HVAC maintenance and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 361-678-2495.
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