Ought to I Restore or Change My Furnace? Elements & Prices

It’s the very last thing you need on a chilly winter evening: no warmth. However what do you do when your furnace stops working?

Possibly you attempt to troubleshoot it your self. However that may be difficult in the event you aren’t accustomed to HVAC tools.

Possibly you name your HVAC associate. With their coaching and experience, certainly they’ll repair it, proper?

Sadly, the service technician has dangerous information: your furnace wants a significant restore to rise up and operating once more.

That’s the place I are available in. As somebody with almost 20 years as an HVAC service technician, I’ve labored with hundreds of shoppers who’re making an attempt to make this resolution.

On this article, I’ll break down the choice the way in which we do for our prospects. We’ll talk about the price of the restore in your present system in addition to the age of your present system. We’ll additionally talk about the price of a substitute furnace.

By the top of this text, you’ll have the data you could determine between changing and repairing your furnace.

Repairing vs. Changing Your Furnace

It’s not often simple to determine whether or not you must restore or change your furnace. And whereas a service technician could make strategies, the choice is finally as much as you.

I view HVAC tools as my affected person — it’s my job to determine what the tools wants and the way to get it again on its ft once more. However I additionally acknowledge that it doesn’t all the time make sense to restore your furnace.

From a service technician’s perspective, whether or not you must restore or change your furnace is dependent upon just a few components:

1. The price of the restore vs. the price of a substitute
2. The age of your system
3. Your funds and luxury targets

How A lot Does It Value to Restore a Furnace?

The price of a furnace restore can change based mostly on just a few components, together with:

• The price of the substitute half
• The period of time it takes to make the restore

When correctly put in and maintained, a contemporary furnace can final 15-20 years or longer. However inside your furnace’s lifespan, you might have to interchange or restore a few of its components.

We will divide these components into two classes: minor furnace repairs and main furnace repairs. We’ll discuss concerning the prices of those repairs in addition to the lifespan of every half and the time it takes to restore the problems beneath.

In some instances, a restore entails changing an element. Generally, repairing a particular half isn’t cost-effective. Whereas the ultimate resolution is as much as you, your HVAC service technician ought to have the ability to present suggestions based mostly in your state of affairs.

Minor furnace repairs are much less intensive. These repairs sometimes take much less time to restore and could also be cheaper than some main repairs.

You sometimes received’t change your furnace resulting from a minor restore.

Minor furnace repairs embrace:

• Ignitor replacements
• Stress swap replacements
• Sequencer replacements
• Transformer replacements

Main furnace repairs can require quite a lot of time, guide labor and talent. These repairs tackle points that severely restrict or fully inhibit your system’s efficiency.

In some instances, it could be cheaper to interchange your furnace reasonably than full a significant restore.

Main furnace repairs embrace:

• Gasoline valve replacements
• Circuit board replacements
• Inducer motor replacements
• Blower motor replacements
• Warmth exchanger repairs and replacements

Now, let’s break these repairs down. To do that, we’ll talk about the function of every half, its life expectancy, and the entire price of the restore.

The worth ranges listed beneath embrace the price of the half, labor and charges. The costs listed beneath are greater than many different guides point out. It’s because many different guides solely record the price of the half.

Furnace Ignitor Substitute

Your furnace’s ignitor offers the spark that heats your house. Trendy ignitors can have a life expectancy between 5-15 years, relying on the kind of ignitor your furnace has.

A furnace ignitor substitute sometimes prices round $300.

Furnace Stress Swap Substitute

Your furnace has a number of security switches, however furnace stress switches usually tend to fail than many switches. Even then, furnace stress switches can have a life expectancy of no less than 10 years.

A furnace stress swap substitute sometimes prices round $250.

Electrical Furnace Sequencer Substitute

In case your electrical furnace isn’t heating your house, there might be a problem with its sequencers. Sequencers assist energy an electrical furnace’s warmth strips. (Warmth strips not often fail.) Sequencers can have a life expectancy of 12-15 years.

A sequencer substitute for an electrical furnace sometimes prices round $300.

Furnace Transformer Substitute

Furnace transformers provide electrical energy to your furnace.

Furnace transformers not often fail. Once they do, it’s probably resulting from electrical stress in your furnace. (One perpetrator might be quick biking.) However furnace transformers can final so long as your furnace.

Once they do fail, a furnace transformer substitute sometimes prices round $400.

Gasoline Valve Replacements

Gasoline valves provide a furnace with gas. Gasoline valves can final so long as your furnace.

The ultimate price of a gasoline valve substitute is dependent upon the kind of gasoline valve you want.

Your furnace’s staging impacts the kind of gasoline valve you want.

On this case, staging refers back to the variety of capability settings your gasoline valve has. This may permit your furnace to regulate its heating output.

There are three varieties of gasoline valves:

• Single-stage
• Two-stage
• Modulating

To be taught extra about single-stage, two-stage and modulating furnaces, try the video beneath. In the event you’re extra of a reader, try this text that additionally tackles single-stage, two-stage and modulating furnaces.

Gasoline valves typically have a low charge of failure. However after they do fail, the complexity of your furnace’s gasoline valve impacts the price of a substitute. 

Usually, single-stage and two-stage gasoline valve replacements price $600 – $800. However modulating gasoline valves can price round $1,000 resulting from their complexity.

The worth may also enhance if the gasoline valve that your furnace wants is not manufactured.

Furnace Circuit Board Substitute

Your furnace’s circuit board tells the remainder of your furnace the way to do its job. In different phrases, the circuit board retains your furnace on observe within the house heating cycle.

The life expectancy of a circuit board is dependent upon components in your house.

Moisture is the primary reason for circuit board failure. The life expectancy of your furnace’s circuit board can considerably lower if there’s quite a lot of moisture within the space the place your system’s situated.

A furnace circuit board substitute can price between $550 – $1,100, relying on how advanced your system is.

If your house struggles with extra moisture or humidity, including programs like dehumidifiers may also help.

Furnace Inducer Motor Substitute

Your furnace’s inducer motor strikes air inside your furnace.

The inducer motor has two roles:

1. Shifting the air by way of the heating course of inside your furnace
2. Exhausting waste gases, together with carbon monoxide, by way of flue pipes

Furnace inducer motors can have a life expectancy of 12-15 years.

A substitute furnace inducer motor can price round $800.

Furnace Blower Motor Substitute

Your furnace’s blower motor circulates air all through your house. With out your blower motor, your furnace can’t successfully distribute conditioned air to the rooms in your house.

The kind of blower motor can change its life expectancy. Older furnaces sometimes have permanent-split compressor (PSC) blower motors, that are comparatively easy and cheap to supply. PSC blower motors can have a life expectancy of 10-12 years. 

Substitute PSC blower motors begin at $700 to interchange.

Variable-speed blower motors, however, have an extended life expectancy. Variable-speed blower motors have quite a lot of pace settings that provide extra management over your system. Variable-speed blower motors can have a life expectancy of 15-20 years.

However after they do break down, variable-speed blower motors are costlier to interchange than PSC motors. Due to their complexity, variable-speed blower motors can price $1,700 – $2,000 to interchange.

Warmth Exchanger Repairs and Replacements

Warmth exchangers play a big function in heating your house. Through the house heating cycle, a warmth exchanger heats the air. The blower motor then distributes that warmth all through your house.

Warmth exchangers sometimes have a life expectancy of 20 years. However this life expectancy can lower considerably if the remainder of your system is strained.

When your warmth exchanger cracks, that is often proof of constructing points.

Dust, mud and clogged filters can pressure your system by rising static stress, or airflow resistance. However dust, mud and clogged filters may also trigger your system to overheat. (One option to keep away from that is by commonly altering your filters and scheduling annual skilled upkeep.)

Purchase Your Furnace Filter From Hearth & Ice

We’ve partnered with a nationwide filter supplier that has each measurement and model of filter you would think about, and have made buying yours simpler than ever! Click on the button beneath to get began, and have your filters delivered proper to the doorstep.

Overheating is difficult in your warmth exchanger. A warmth exchanger heats up and cools down tons of of hundreds of instances inside its common lifespan. However when it overheats, a warmth exchanger can turn out to be extra brittle. This may end up in cracking.

Whereas it’s attainable to restore a warmth exchanger as a substitute of changing it, warmth exchanger repairs begin round $100 however can price as a lot as hundreds of {dollars}.

Your furnace’s warmth exchanger is situated behind all its different components. To even start working in your warmth exchanger, a service technician should take your furnace aside. That is labor-intensive and takes quite a lot of time.

As soon as the technician has a transparent view, they should be extremely expert to judge and restore the warmth exchanger.

Changing a warmth exchanger is equally labor-intensive. A substitute warmth exchanger can price $1,000 – $2,000 below guarantee. But when your furnace’s components aren’t below guarantee, your warmth exchanger may price as a lot as $3,500 to interchange.

How A lot Does a Substitute Furnace Value?

A new furnace substitute sometimes prices between $3,000 – $7,600. This contains labor and different charges.

The ultimate price of a furnace substitute is dependent upon just a few components, together with:

• Staging
• Effectivity
• Sizing

For extra info on how these components have an effect on the associated fee, try the video beneath.

Why the Age of Your Furnace Issues

It’s best to think about the age of your furnace while you’re deciding whether or not to restore or change it.

Trendy furnaces have a life expectancy of 15-20 years. Nicely-maintained furnaces can final even longer than that.

Initially, your furnace sometimes shouldn’t want repairs if it’s below 10 years previous.

However as your furnace nears the top of its life expectancy, it will not be cost-effective to restore it. In different phrases, in case your furnace is approaching 20 years previous, you’ll probably want to interchange it within the close to future.

That is why we sometimes advocate investing your cash in a substitute as a substitute of pushing a complete breakdown off for just a little longer.

When to Restore and When to Change Your Furnace

Now that you recognize among the components, let’s talk about how these components can have an effect on your resolution.

In fact, this resolution is all the time as much as you. Your HVAC associate ought to current your choices pretty so you may make the perfect resolution for you, your loved ones and your house.

In case your furnace is below 10 years previous and requires a significant restore, that’s an indication that your system is below vital pressure.

A number of components can create this pressure:

1. Producer defect
2. Improper set up
3. Irregular (or lack of) upkeep

Nevertheless it’s pure for components to fail in older programs. Nonetheless, at a sure level, chances are you’ll have to weigh your choices.

For instance, let’s say your warmth exchanger cracks. It will not be cost-effective to speculate hundreds of {dollars} to restore or change your warmth exchanger if the remainder of your system is approaching the top of its lifespan.

As we mentioned earlier, a warmth exchanger can price as a lot as $3,500 to interchange. That may be greater than the price of a substitute furnace. When you’ve got an older furnace, this will not be essentially the most cost-effective resolution.

That is why it’s by no means a nasty concept to know the way a lot a substitute furnace will price. When you recognize the price of your ultimate system, you possibly can higher consider whether or not you suppose it’s cheaper to restore or change your furnace.

Subsequent Steps

In the event you’re on the lookout for a extra in-depth breakdown of the price of a substitute furnace, try this text that discusses all of the components that have an effect on the price of a brand new furnace.

In the event you determine to interchange your furnace, try this text on the components that have an effect on which furnace suits your house and your wants.

In the event you’d like an HVAC skilled to evaluate your present furnace, we’d love to assist!

At Hearth & Ice, we consider in doing the appropriate factor for our prospects. This implies we current your choices pretty and educate you on any attainable options. Our service technicians and gross sales professionals can be found to provide the info you want so you possibly can establish which choice is the perfect for you.

To get began, enter your zip code beneath. We look ahead to assembly with you!