Nobody wants to get caught with a failed air conditioning system during the summer. When it does happen, you hope that proper repairs can get the system going again—and often this is the case. When you’re looking for repairs for your air conditioning in Bethesda, MD, the team at Tuckers is ready to help.
But some AC failures may be permanent. If an air conditioner is too aged, a breakdown may signal that the best fix is to retire the AC. We want to help you avoid getting blindsided with an AC replacement by talking about how long you can expect your cooling system to last. Knowing when your air conditioning system is in its final years will help you arrange for a replacement at a convenient time.
Average AC Life Expectancy
Most manufacturers list the service life expectancy of central air conditioning systems as 10 to 15 years. You may have heard contractors say that an AC needs to be replaced every 10 years, but this isn’t necessarily true. Air conditioners reaching 15 years without experiencing severe drops in efficiency or performance are common when the system has regular maintenance. And that brings us to an important topic…
What Can Affect AC Life Expectancy
There are several other factors that can change how long an air conditioner lasts. The biggest is the lack of regular maintenance. We talk about routine professional HVAC maintenance often on our site, but that’s because we know that it’s a vital service that saves our customers money and helps them protect their home comfort.
Here’s an important fact to keep in mind: the majority of repairs the average central air conditioner needs are due to lack of maintenance. Now consider those repairs are also contributing to a decline in the general health of the AC, and you’ll see why neglecting maintenance can also cause an air conditioner to fail years early. Without maintenance, an air conditioning system’s lifespan can be cut in half. So instead of enjoying an AC for 10 to 15 years, you’ll only have it for 5 to 8 years. That’s a lot of lost years of potential cooling!
Another factor that can cause a rapid decline for an AC is ignoring repair needs for too long. We always urge our customers to be proactive when it comes to getting an air conditioner problem repaired: at the earliest sign something is wrong with your AC (loud noises, a drop in cooling capacity, a rise in humidity, uneven cooling, skyrocketing electric bills, tripped circuit breakers), call our technicians to investigate the problem and fix it. If a malfunction is allowed to continue, it will place stress on other components and age the system rapidly. If you end up with a burnt-out compressor, that usually means you need to replace the entire system.
Let Tuckers help you keep your AC running for as many years as possible with our repair and maintenance service. We’re also here when you’re ready to have a new system installed.
Call Tuckers Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing when you need AC service. We pledge to exceed expectations at every turn.
It’s getting colder, and the temperatures will continue to drop until they reach the lows of January and February. If you haven’t yet taken steps to protect the plumbing of your home for the ice-cold season, now is definitely the time.
Of all the various parts of your plumbing system, the most important is the water line. All water that flows into your home, whether from a well or from a city water main, flows through this pipe first. So, if you want your plumbing system to continue operating as smoothly as possible, it’s a good idea to make sure that your water line stays healthy. Part of doing that is familiarizing yourself with the signs that your water line is in trouble, and knowing when to call for repairs. Below are some of the more typical issues that your water line may run into, and what you should do about them. 
Furnaces don’t last forever, regardless of how well you treat them. That doesn’t mean that you should just let yours degrade, of course, but it does mean that you should know when to throw in the proverbial towel and install a new one. You don’t want your first warning sign of your furnace getting towards the end of its life to be when it breaks down permanently. Have a look at the following signs that you really should replace your furnace sooner rather than later.