When the winter season arrives, we all tend to brace ourselves with a heating system to ensure our homes stay warm and cozy. The furnace plays a major role to keep all your rooms warm throughout the house. This mechanism was structured to heat and cool surrounding air to achieve the desired temperature levels. How long does a furnace last?
Upon purchasing a new furnace, homeowners expect it to serve them for several years before it breaks down. However, many furnace owners don’t have knowledge about their system’s lifespan or how to buy a furnace. One should be attentive to detail, evaluate the furnace and know how long the unit is going to last.
Having this knowledge will help you determine when you’re going to replace your furnace. Hereby, we’re going to show you how to determine the age of your furnace and signs that indicate that it’s replacement time.
Typical Age of a Furnace
Typically, the average lifecycle of a furnace ranges from 15 to 30 years. This age range is meant to make you aware of the service duration your furnace is likely to undertake. After being aware of this, you can now decide on when to introduce a new furnace system into your house or do some repairs.
How long does a furnace last? If you don’t know the approximate lifespan of your furnace, you can open the inside cover of your furnace to check your manufacturer’s serial no. Note the contact number and use it to contact the manufacturer to know your furnace’s manufacturing date. Using the manufacturing date, you can now conclude your furnace’s age easily.
When your system is approaching the 15th or 20th year, you’re probably going to consider purchasing a new furnace or repair it a few more times. If your furnace is too close to its deathbed, you’ll have to make a replacement as soon as possible before it breaks down again.
However, some furnaces might be in their 20’s but still fit as a fiddle. Such furnaces are usually superior models and they’re likely to hang around for a little longer than regular ones.
Signs You Need to Replace Your Furnace
1. Sudden temperature changes
As your furnace becomes older, it also depreciates in terms of efficiency. Abnormal temperature shifts across rooms in the house are a key sign of an aging furnace. You might start experiencing cold spots in your home or overheating cases which are however quite rare.
If you start noticing regular changes in temperatures, it’s about time you contact HVAC professionals to come and put some work in. It can also be an awakening call that your furnace is breaking down and you’ll have to purchase a new one soon.
Once a gas furnace hits 15 years and above, its efficiency levels deteriorate. For electric furnaces, obe might have to cross the 20-year mark to start experiencing these signs.
2. Noise-making furnace
If you notice certain noises from your furnace, it might be about time you purchase a new one. Your furnace might start screeching, humming, rattling, or even popping depending on the type of malfunction it might be undergoing.
Popping might be caused by an inconsistent shift in temperatures while rattling sounds might be a result of loose ductwork. Your furnace might also hum or click due to a damaged blower and a broken ignitor respectively.
3. High repair costs and energy bills
When a furnace approaches its 15th or 20th year of service, its efficiency might start depreciating rapidly. The furnace becomes unable to uniformly distribute heat around your home thus resulting in the presence of cold spots inside your house.
You’ll notice that your furnace might be aging if your energy bills start shooting above the normal rates. If the repair costs become abnormally high (costing more than a new funnel) you’ll have to replace it with a new one or shift to another heating source like radiant heating.
How Long Does a Furnace Last – Factors to Consider
Before we call it a day, we are going to delve into factors that affect the life cycle of your heating unit. The following factors are committed to giving you an answer to your question: How long does a furnace last?
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The model type
We recommend you to buy high-quality, high-efficiency furnaces for your heating purposes since they tend to last longer than low-efficiency ones. Cheaper and low-efficiency furnaces are known to have a shorter lifespan on the other hand.
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Age of your furnace
Age is a key factor when it comes to your furnace’s lifespan or longevity. A 20-year-old furnace will obviously be more prone to breakdowns and repairs when compared to an 8-year old residential furnace which is still efficient and functioning properly.
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Sizing
If you live in a large house, you should get yourself a simultaneously large-sized furnace that will efficiently heat your home for the expected period of time. A smaller furnace will work for a relatively smaller house. Installing a smaller furnace for a big house will overwhelm the furnace since it will have to run overtime to accommodate the heating needs of your house.
This will influence malfunctions and breakdowns of certain furnace components thus resulting in premature breakdown and early furnace replacements.
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Poor furnace installation
Assign an experienced HVAC contractor after purchasing your furnace to work on the proper installation of your furnace. You’re advised to go for a qualified contractor to avoid bush-league installation services which will affect the performance of your furnace in the long run.
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Overworking your furnace
Setting extreme thermostat configurations such as an 80 degrees temperature setting will only overwork your furnace and shorten its lifespan over time. Lastly, remember to install your furnace in a properly ventilated location to ensure there’s enough air coming in.
Proper ventilation will also minimize the amount of incoming moisture thus preventing your heat exchanger from being damaged.
