Repair or Replace: AC, Furnace or Heat Pump
Enter the system, its age and what failed. The verdict weighs age against typical service life and how serious the failure is, so you walk into the call knowing which way it leans.
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Data: typical service lives from DOE and ASHRAE equipment life tables; EPA R-22 phase-out (production ended 2020) · Updated September 2026
How the verdict is built
Age against typical service life
Central air conditioners typically run 12 to 15 years, furnaces 15 to 20 and heat pumps 10 to 15. A system in its last stretch, or past it, tilts toward replacement because the next failure is usually not far behind. A young system tilts toward repair, and its major parts are often still inside the manufacturer’s parts warranty.
Not all failures weigh the same
A capacitor, igniter or sensor is a routine part on a system of any age. A blower motor or control board is a normal mid-life repair. A compressor, a refrigerant leak in an old coil, or a cracked heat exchanger is a different class: the repair is involved and the rest of the system is the same age.
Repeat repairs and R-22
Two or more repairs in the last two years is the classic sign of a system on its way out. R-22 refrigerant has not been made or imported since 2020, so a refrigerant repair on an R-22 unit is a repair into a shrinking supply. Both push the verdict toward replacement.
Common questions
About 12 to 15 years with regular maintenance, longer in mild climates and shorter where it runs hard all summer. Past 15 years a big repair usually makes less sense than replacement.
About 15 to 20 years. Furnaces outlast air conditioners because they have fewer moving parts and no compressor. A cracked heat exchanger is the failure that ends a furnace’s life at any age past the warranty.
Usually, once the furnace is out of warranty. Combustion gases can enter the air stream through the crack, so pros treat it as a shut-down fault, and the repair means rebuilding the core of an aging furnace. Under warranty a pro checks whether the exchanger is covered.
If it was made before 2010, probably. The refrigerant type is printed on the data plate on the outdoor unit. R-22 production ended in 2020, so any leak on an R-22 system pushes the verdict toward replacement.
Often, when both are past 15 years, because they share the blower and ducts and the pro is already on site. A younger furnace can stay; a pro checks whether the new AC coil and the old blower match.
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