Longevity of heat pumps
 

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?

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.

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.

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.

I would get another opinion or 2.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Heat Pumps
 

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.

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.

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

Heat pump
 

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