Longevity of heat pumps

[DCPassehl]

We bought our home 9 years and 5 months ago. We have just been informed our heat pump system needs replacing. I had expected the system to last at least 15 years. Am I wrong? Others experiences?

[Sparty6971]

Don't know here in Florida. Ours in Ohio didn't last long. But that's meaningless - get at least one or two more looks by the major companies before you throw a bunch of money at the issue. Might just need an overhaul of some component.

[retiredguy123]

15 years is more typical. But, the technician should have told you what is wrong with it. If it needs a new compressor, it may make more sense to buy a new unit. But, if it just needs a new evaporator coil, it may be worth repairing it. Any unit can be repaired at any age.

[thelegges]

Ours died @ 11 years. Three companies came out all of them said needed to be replaced. We have been having problems with it for the past four years so it limped a long period ended up using Chuck Farrell. Apparently anything over 10 to 11 years is a crapshoot on how much longer it will last.

[Stu from NYC]

I would get another opinion or 2.

[kkingston57]

Agree on getting other contractors out to see if it can be repaired. Longevity can differ a lot, depending on your usage, temperature settings and how often it is used. Almost 10 years is probably the low end of expected life span.

[thelegges]

You also need to check with home warranty. Sometime in 09 before or after, There was an issue with the copper pipe that was used, and cause leaks. Our home was not one of the issues but good to pass on

[Topspinmo]

My experience with heat pumps the compressor last about 11 years just after the warranty out. Usually the compressor replacement is almost same cost as the outside unit. So most cases not worth repairing. inside unit should last longer. Usually thing’s going to fail are A coil rust out, maybe fan motor, or relay.

[thevillages2013]

We bought our home 9 years and 5 months ago. We have just been informed our heat pump system needs replacing. I had expected the system to last at least 15 years. Am I wrong? Others experiences?
Was your home new when you bought it? You also didn’t mention what company gave you the assessment of the unit but Sunkool is notorious for wanting to replace a system too soon

[J1ceasar]

You should also put the price of a new unit on here and get comments as I have found good reliable companies to be within $500 of each other but others who want to to take at a 10-year warranty can be triple. I've been unlucky to avoid houses where the AC craps out within a month of buying and usually on July 4th but I have found reliable guys that have been in business here many many years, please keep in mind unlike AC units up north that are only used for 3 months a year many people here in Florida keep it turned on 12 months out of the Year even if it's not used in December and January because we can get hot days so 10 years of use is damn good

[banjobob]

We had a heat pump in Ohio , replaced the compressor once at 15 years.

[Sgt Ed]

Normally new ones are warrantied for 10 years. I think what was going infer a while was the government mandated SEER rating. They keep upping it and licensed AC places have to replace with the new stuff when it breaks. Naturally they can not find any new old ratted stuff. Just 1 more thing for the gov't to get their nose in at your expense.

[davephan]

Our air conditioner compressor failed at our old Minnesota after 21 years. The compressor failed at my mom’s old house in Minnesota after 17 years. I’d expect that the air conditioner would last much less time in Florida, because air conditioning is used a lot more in Florida.

We replaced both AC and the furnace in Minnesota with higher quality units. The furnace still worked, but had two failures which required emergency service in the middle of the winter, two years in a row.

We replaced the single stage AC with a two stage AC unit. The two stage AC alternates between cooling and dehumidification. It works better than single stage AC, and did a better job reducing the humidity level without making the air temperature too cold. The blower was a multi speed DC motor that had 200 speeds. Normally, the continuous running blower ran very slowly, and would occasionally ramp up in speed. That kept the temperature much more even, throughout the house.

I don’t know if a two stage heat pump exists. When one or both of our AC units fail in our Florida house, I’ll replace them with higher quality units.

Furnaces normally last 20 to 30 years in Minnesota. I assume that the furnace part of your HVAC system in Florida probably lasts forever, since it’s used pretty infrequently in Florida.

[72lions]

Normally new ones are warrantied for 10 years. I think what was going infer a while was the government mandated SEER rating. They keep upping it and licensed AC places have to replace with the new stuff when it breaks. Naturally they can not find any new old ratted stuff. Just 1 more thing for the gov't to get their nose in at your expense.

Government mandates resulted in significantly higher efficiency saving you money in the long run and reducing environmental damage by prohibiting Freon.

[Larchap49]

Don't know here in Florida. Ours in Ohio didn't last long. But that's meaningless - get at least one or two more looks by the major companies before you throw a bunch of money at the issue. Might just need an overhaul of some component.

Definitely get another opinion or two. I prefer using local small business companies the big ones pay commissions to techs who sell new units. I'm betting it can be repaired.. Also don't fall for an ac unit costing 8 to 12 thousand, they are nowhere near that expensive unless you are going for a top of the line high sear rated variable speed unit. I personally don't think those are worth the money. Good luck

[Keninches]

We have a Trane. Had it originally when the house was built in 2020. It is still going strong. Get another opinion for sure.

[Alicia]

If you are talking about a pool heat pump, Q Services LLC installed an Aquatherm pool heat pump for our pool in 2006, and it is still running beautifully.

[DAVES]

My experience with heat pumps the compressor last about 11 years just after the warranty out. Usually the compressor replacement is almost same cost as the outside unit. So most cases not worth repairing. inside unit should last longer. Usually thing’s going to fail are A coil rust out, maybe fan motor, or relay.

Warranty, they know far better than we consumers do what will fail and when.

Often like a tire warranty, it is prorated based on wear-remaining tread. The warranty is based on list price. Not, what you can buy the tire for so it is not as valuable as we think or are led to believe.

Worth repairing or does replacing make sense. Air conditioning units have gotten more efficient. To do that they have things like multi speed motors etc. Parts, like a multi-speed motor if, when, they fail are far more expensive.

There is a time were we are beating a dead horse. The line is not as clear as it is presented by the guy, the company trying to sell you a new system or the guy trying to convince you to do an expensive repair.

I believe in Florida AC life is about 14 years.

Repairs? I see it like light bulbs in a typical chandelier. Average bulb is rated at xxxx hours. You climb up a ladder and replace one. A week later another one blows.
Sometimes it makes sense when one blows to change them all.

Reality, behind me is my ceiling fan with four bulbs in it. One is blown. Change them all,
change one, or wait till another blows and be forced then to deal with it?

[richl]

IMO
The life expectancy of a heat pump depends on several factors but how well the heat pump is maintained is important. Heat pumps normally last an average of 15 years, though some can wear out after a decade. Some of the newer units being manufactured today can last a bit longer.
• Replace or clean air filters regularly, according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.
• Clean the fins on the outside condenser unit.
• Keep coils clean.

[OhioBuckeye]

It keeps these Co. in business. We live in Texas close to Dallas/Ft. Worth & around here the builders use a lot of Tankless Water Heaters & a lot of them are on outside of our homes, like ours. Most people here where we live only live here less than 2 yrs. & as you know we had some very cold weather here this past winter & needless to say a lot of our Tankless Heaters bursted, mine was only 2 yrs. old, & a lot of people had to spend $2,000 to get replaced but lucky for me I did ours myself. Only took about an hr. to change. So what I’m trying say is don’t never, ever get a Tankless Heater. If you do have it put on an inside wall.

[emb2458]

Did you take the ten year extended warranty? We did and it was covered. Don't normally buy extended warranties but did on this major item. Sun Kool has been great honoring their warranty.

[jjombrello]

Been here 23 yrs and on my third heat pump. The current unit is about 2 yrs. old so 10 yrs/unit is about right. Depending on the age of yours, some of the units are not worth repairing because the refrigerant used in the older units is no longer available.

[jimhurtt@twc.com]

I learned the hard way that when hosing down the outside unit to clean it, you can easily bend the cooling fins by using too much water pressure. This drastically reduces their efficiency. Be carefull.

[retiredguy123]

Been here 23 yrs and on my third heat pump. The current unit is about 2 yrs. old so 10 yrs/unit is about right. Depending on the age of yours, some of the units are not worth repairing because the refrigerant used in the older units is no longer available.
It is not true that older types of refrigerant are not available. Some older refrigerants can no longer be manufactured, but there is an adequate supply of recycled refrigerant that can be used to repair old HVAC units.

[nn0wheremann]

We bought our home 9 years and 5 months ago. We have just been informed our heat pump system needs replacing. I had expected the system to last at least 15 years. Am I wrong? Others experiences?
Ours is 18 years old and running strong. Neighbor got the replacement bad news a couple of years ago. Turned out it was a $35 capacitor, which took another neighbor 20 minutes to install.

[DCPassehl]

New home 2011

[conman5652@aol.com]

Look in home warranty. If unit shot they replace for small fee

[ronfaye33]

We have been told that our system needs to be replaced for several years. Our recent check- up-technician wanted only to have a sales person contact us.

[llmcdaniel]

Our unit is 9 years 11 months old , and we just had the compressor replaced. We have American Home Shield, so we paid $75 fee to American Home Shield. Because the ac companies are using a different type of freon now, I also had to pay $435 for new type. The repair company told us the compressor would have cost between $2,500 to $3,000 plus the new type of freon had we not had a home warranty.

[graciegirl]

Was your home new when you bought it? You also didn’t mention what company gave you the assessment of the unit but Sunkool is notorious for wanting to replace a system too soon

We use Sunkool. They check the system and replace filters. A couple of years ago there was a prolonged heat spell and we lost our air conditioning. The repair person couldn't get to us until eleven at night. He wasn't young and we were so grateful. He had been deluged .

I read a lot of stuff on here and I haven't ever heard or read bad stuff about Sunkool.