3 Signs It's Time for a New AC

Your air conditioner is likely due for replacement if it is more than about 15 years old, if it struggles to cool the house or needs repeated repairs, or if it no longer keeps your indoor air clean and comfortable. Any one of those is worth taking seriously, and two or more together usually settle the question.

In Pasco, Kennewick and Richland, where July afternoons often run well past 100 degrees, an air conditioner is not a luxury, so it pays to decide before it fails on the hottest day of the year.

Sign one: the system is old

Most central air conditioners are designed to last somewhere around 12 to 15 years, and a few go longer with steady maintenance. Find the data label on the outdoor unit. The serial number often encodes the manufacture date, and a technician can decode it if it is unclear.

Age matters for two reasons. First, wear accumulates in the compressor, fan motor and coil, and any one of them can fail at short notice. Second, older equipment may use a refrigerant that is being phased out, which can make repairs harder to source. A unit past 15 years that needs a major component deserves a hard look at replacement instead of another repair.

Sign two: performance is slipping

Watch how the house behaves, not just how the unit sounds. These are the patterns that most often point to a system that is wearing out:

• Rooms that never reach the thermostat setting on hot afternoons.
• Long run times, or a system that seems to run all day and still lags.
• Short cycling, where it starts and stops every few minutes.
• Ice on the indoor coil or refrigerant lines.
• Loud grinding, rattling or squealing from the outdoor unit.
• Higher energy bills over several summers with no change in how you live.

One repair is normal. A string of them in a couple of seasons is a signal that parts are failing in sequence. Ask your technician for a plain comparison of what the repair fixes and what else is likely to go next.

Sign three: the air quality is off

An air conditioner also moves and conditions all the air in your home. If you notice more dust, a musty smell when it starts, uneven humidity, or a stuffy feeling even with the system running, the equipment may not be keeping up. Late summer wildfire smoke in the Columbia Basin makes this more noticeable, since a system that cannot move air properly through a good filter lets fine particles linger indoors.

Sometimes the fix is a filter change, a coil cleaning or duct repair. But when the blower, coil or equipment size is simply wrong for the house, no amount of tinkering will solve it.

Repair or replace: a fair way to decide

A helpful rule of thumb is to weigh the age of the system against the size of the repair. A young unit with a small problem should be repaired. An old unit with a big problem, or an old unit that has needed several repairs, is usually a candidate for replacement.

Newer equipment also brings features an old system lacks, such as variable-speed fans and compressors that cool more evenly and quietly. Replacing during spring, before the first heat wave, lets you choose equipment without pressure, and financing through GreenSky is available if you want to spread out the cost.

If your air conditioner is showing any of these signs, Air-Tech can look it over honestly and tell you where it stands. They are a Trane dealer and service every brand, and you can reach the Pasco office at (509) 392-2021.