Do I Need A New Air Conditioning Unit At Home?

It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, tall or short, live in an apartment or own your home, when the summer time is here everyone is looking for air conditioning. If you own your own home do you know what is included in your air conditioning unit? Do you know whether your unit uses electricity or gas for heat. These are a few simple truths that should be known by all homeowners new or old. In this article I will go over a few reasons you may be looking to replace your air conditioning and heating system and what to expect when you do.

Why Would I Need A New Air Conditioning And Heating System?

What are a few reasons that you would need to replace your air conditioning and heating system in your home versus repairing it? The most common reason for changing out a home A/C & Heating system is that it is broken and the repair is more or close to the cost of the replacement. When you have a compressor on the outside air conditioning unit break it can be expensive to cover the cost of the part, labor and freon that is needed to repair the unit. This can most of the time cost as much or close to the cost of a new unit and only come with a one year parts warranty. When a new unit will come with a ten year warranty if purchased and installed from a reputable air conditioning and heating company. Same goes for an evaporator coil on the indoor unit. When the metal tubes rust out and start to leak freon, there is no repair that will fix this problem. The coil will have to be replaced and the freon will have to be filled back up. With new freon law changes and EPA regulations taking in to effect, it can be a challenge to match a new outside unit with an old inside unit, and vice versa. In this case the entire system will have to be changed, sometimes to upgrade to the new freon type.

Inversely if you have constantly had the air conditioning and heating company out, possibly even multiple companies, to look at your air conditioning and heating system, on a more than regular basis, it may be time to consider the cost of a new air conditioning system. Whether you are just changing the outside unit simply replacing and evaporator coil inside or swapping out an Old Furnace, this is all new air conditioning and heating equipment installations. Also you will be in the same category if you decide to change all parts of your air conditioning and heating system simultaneously. Whether it be a noisy or any efficient unit the time to change your AC and heating system will not always be as clear as day. You will have to judge on a few factors like how often the repairman comes to fix the AC or furnace how much he costs, how much electricity your old System is using extra, and the cost of the repair if your system is down versus the cost of a new system and a cheaper electric bill. Sometimes parts are not available more common this year than any other year before but if your parts are not available sometimes you are not willing to wait a month in the middle of the summer, or winter, to get your air conditioning and heating system operational again. This would also prompt you to change your air conditioning system and consider variables previously stated earlier than you normally May. Getting your air conditioning system repaired when it is over 15 years old may not always be the best investment long term.

New A/C Due Diligence

Once you decide to replace your air conditioning and heating system, you still have some work to do. Your due diligence will include a few things before pulling the trigger with your air conditioning and heating contractor. First off make sure any company that comes inside of your home is licensed by the state of Texas department of license and regulations and insured before looking or working on your home air conditioning system. Also it may be a good idea to check all possible reviews and feedback online about the companies before even calling. Referrals are good if you know someone that you can trust they may have already vetted several contractors in your area and you will not have to do that. If not you are going to want to be informed about all good and bad feedback available online prior to doing business with any AC and heating contractor. This sounds like a simple statement but time and time again we come in behind contractors who are not licensed not insured and or have horrible reviews online for the same exact problem we are there to charge the customer to fix. These problems can almost always be avoided by not choosing those type of air conditioning companies.

Once you have chosen an air conditioning contractor, they will set a day for the installation. When the installers arrive most of the time they have never been to your house and you have never talked to them. They have been given instructions on what to do, it may be a good idea to go over with them the overall game plan and any details you wanted done specifically. Before they start, if they are working inside of your home they should be setting up drop cloths to protect all of your flooring and or wear shoe coverings in places where drop cloths are not reasonable. Make sure if they need to access the garage for your attic that your driveway and garage is empty of cars. Leaving your car in the driveway and or garage even if it is out of the way is always asking for trouble. Things happen stuff accidentally falls out of the attic access, people trip and unknown things happen. It is always best for these things to happen without your vehicle within scratching or denting range. If there is a gate that has not been opened make sure that it gets opened before the installers get there. Installers will be happy to take the gate off but are not necessarily fence and gate carpenters. They may even reinstall the gate or fence but not necessarily to the same quality it was originally installed also any deteriorated materials may not go back together as easily.

Remember The A/C!!!

Keep all of this in mind going forward as a homeowner new or old. Finding a good air conditioning and heating company is not always easy, make sure you do your due diligence in advance and check everything that you can to make sure they are holding up their end of the bargain. Air conditioning and heating equipment is expensive to change so make sure you get your money’s worth. It is a state law that air conditioning and heating contractors are required to offer a one-year parts and labor warranty on anything they sell you. If this warranty is not upheld the company may be in a position to lose their state issued and regulated license.