How to Know if You Need a New Furnace

House with icicles

During the cold winter months here in Minnesota, we all rely on our furnaces to keep us warm. It is crucial, not only for comfort but also for safety, that your furnace remain functional during this time. Here at Apollo Heating and Air, we regularly have customers asking how they can know if they need to buy a new furnace before it stops working altogether. We recommend looking for the following warning signs, which may be telling you it is time to invest in a new furnace.

Age

Though age isn’t everything, it can give you a good idea as to when you should expect to say goodbye to your furnace. Furnaces typically last between 16 and 20 years. If you have had yours professionally maintained, it will probably last closer to the 20-year mark. It is a good idea to start shopping around before your unit hits this age so that you don’t find yourself stuck in the cold.

Rise in Utility Bills

Rising electric and gas prices are not the only reason your utility bills could be creeping up. If your furnace is not working efficiently, you may find that your bills keep rising while you are not necessarily enjoying any more warmth than normal. In fact, as furnaces age, and especially if they are not properly maintained, they may need to run longer to keep your home at the same temperature.

While furnaces can be expensive, it is important that you recognize how much an inefficient furnace can be costing you. You can do some simple math to find out how much you can save each month by replacing your old unit with a higher-efficiency one. The extra you are paying to the utility companies each month can go towards helping pay for the new unit.

Constant Repairs

If you find that your furnace is in constant need of repair, it is a good sign that you probably should replace it sooner rather than later, as most furnaces encounter the most problems in the last 2 years of their lives. It is not difficult to spend hundreds of dollars each time there is a small problem with the unit. These bills add up over time, and you could be using that money to pay for a new furnace rather than fixing the old one.

We often hear the question, “How expensive does a repair need to be before it’s not worth repairing?” Though there is not an exact number, we recommend looking at the age of your existing unit along with the cost of buying a new one. A good rule of thumb is if the cost of the repair is 50% or more of the cost of a new furnace, you should replace it.

While there is generally not one factor that will tell you for sure that it is time to replace your furnace, you should contact us right away if you have experienced more than one of these signs mentioned above. Our experts can give you a more detailed assessment of costs and benefits of shopping for new furnaces in MN.