Would you replace your furnace, simply based on age, even if its working fine?

[Jillpie]

We have oil heat, our home is 23 years old. I had our furnace cleaned today. And his recommendation, based only on age, is that we should replace it. He also said it is working fine. What would you do, wait it out for future problems? (he scared me when he said if it breaks, the home could be filled with soot and is very hard to remove that smell). We keep our house set at 63 most of the time, so its not working overtime, if that matters at all.

 

[Mizzoufan]

No, to me that seems like a huge waste of money.

 

[ImDMous]

Hmm, I guess it would depend on what happens when they break and how common that is. Our water heater was incredibly old but still working fine. Since they tend to fail catastrophically (water everywhere does not sound like fun), we replaced it before it got the chance. If oil furnaces tend to give out suddenly with no symptoms and a house full of soot, I might think about it. If it's more common to have problems with it before it blows then I would probably take my chances.

 

[robinb]

Would a new furnace be more efficient? Could you change to gas instead of oil? Do you plan on staying in your house for a while?

It may be worth replacing it now if you can buy a more efficient model that you can use for a while.

 

[morgan98]

Does it impact the energy efficiency of the home? I don't know much about oil heat, but I know that the furnace in our new home 2015 compared to 2007 is vastly different and much more efficient. Also, would you have more bargaining power to purchase it now when you are not under the gun to replace it.

I'm just posing these questions. The normal, frugal part of me says to wait until the old one dies, but I am trying to think of it from a bit of a different perspective.

 

[BigAlsGal]

I wont replace anything until it breaks. Especially with the garbage that's produced by most companies these days. I've got a dryer acting up and its not even a year old.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Ours are past their time (we have two) but we are holding out until they break for good. Once we replace them we are also going to get central air and don't really have the money for that at the moment.

 

[Micca]

We have oil heat, our home is 23 years old. I had our furnace cleaned today. And his recommendation, based only on age, is that we should replace it. He also said it is working fine. What would you do, wait it out for future problems? (he scared me when he said if it breaks, the home could be filled with soot and is very hard to remove that smell). We keep our house set at 63 most of the time, so its not working overtime, if that matters at all.

Based on the bolded sentences I wouldn't replace it now, but I would be planning for replacement in the not too distant future. Knowing that your unit is past its prime, I'd replace it at the first sign of any problem.

 

[Bilberry]

I was in a similar debate situation, to replace or not to replace. I've placed my condo up for sale. It was asked by the realtor I believe that I have my furnace looked at, and determine how old it is. I did so. The age came back 18 years old. The repairman inspector said it was in great working condition. As a result it was decided to hold onto the older furnace.

 

[DisneyLover1217]

When we bought our house the boiler was 20 years old and I wanted to replace it, even though it was working. When the guy came he was like why do you want to replace it and I said it's 20 years old, it could break any day. He said a brand new one could break any day, you never know, but if you really want a new one, I can order one for you. So I decided not to get it and it lasted us 12 more years before it went caput on us. So basically I would hold on to your old one, make sure to always get it serviced every year. It could have another 10 good years in it, you never know.

 

[DawnM]

No

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We have oil heat, our home is 23 years old. I had our furnace cleaned today. And his recommendation, based only on age, is that we should replace it. He also said it is working fine. What would you do, wait it out for future problems? (he scared me when he said if it breaks, the home could be filled with soot and is very hard to remove that smell). We keep our house set at 63 most of the time, so its not working overtime, if that matters at all.

Well, we did. But we were replacing our air conditioner anyway. It seemed worth the cost to replace both at once.

The thing about furnaces - they're much more efficient now than they were 20 years ago. And, when they go out - they're done. No heat.

 

[gotomu212]

You might want to google furnace breaking and soot before you decide. My friend owned a rental property and when the furnace broke the entire lower level was covered in soot. It was almost like fire damage and was really expensive to repair.

 

[mom2rtk]

Nothing gets replaced here unless it breaks. And sometimes not even then.

 

[Cubbiecakes]

Better to replace it before you need it.

We replaced our 15+ year old air conditioner/heater with a brand new model that's much more efficient. We keep it 3 degrees cooler than before AND it still costs less than the old one.

 

[LMNO]

I would advise paying yourself payments into a savings account for a replacement down the line, but for now, I would not replace it until it is "done for".

 

[mtemm]

I might, based on a few things. Not sure where you are but here in MA we have a program called mass save that often offers incentives/rebates when you replace an older furnace/boiler/ac/etc but it needs to be replaced prior to it dying. We had to do one of our central ac's this summer. Our hvac guy gave us a heads up that it was a good time for us to jump on it this summer and I'm glad we did.

Check and see if your state has any programs like this. Might at least be worth exploring, especially if it make make financial sense with energy efficiency. At least something to think about in the next couple of years.

 

[tvguy]

I would say run them until the die and can't be fixed. But I guess it depends on your climate, your house, and how hot and cold you like your house.. My mom had one of those free energy audits done about 10 years ago. Her HVAC was installed in 1960 so it was about 45 years old at the time. The contractor put together prices on upgrading to equipment that is much much more efficient. Then he logged onto her utility providers website to imput her energy use and see what rebates and special financing she qualified for. None. It was going to take over 100 years to save in energy what replacing the HVAC was going to cost.

Fast forwarded to 3 years ago when she passed away and I sold the house. The system was now 53 years old. I expected I would have to replace the system to sell the house. I interviewed 6 realtors before selection an listing agent, and they disagreed on a lot of things but all agreed not to replace the HVAC.
I sold to an investor who did a top to bottom remodel, but did not replace the HVAC. I talked to the person who bought it from the investor, and she was concerned about what is now a 56 year old system. It's a Lennox, and she too had an audit done, and while she heats and cools a lot more than my mom did, she had the system evaluated and found it would take too long to save the cost of replacing the system. So she is letting go until it dies.

 

[YachtClubWoman]

We replaced our unit last year based on age. We now have better efficiency with cheaper electric/gas bill. It was a good decision for us

 

[lsyorke]

I just replaced a 25 year old oil burner. They warned me that it wasn't going to last much longer and they were right, it died in the middle of the night so no hot water for us, luckily it was during the summer . With the new one the oil usage is significantly down from the old one. So far this year we're at about 50% of what we used in the same time period last year. Hot water is much more consistent, heat is much more consistent and the unit is SO quiet compared to the old one. Got a great rebate also. Well worth making the change.