10 year old AC
 

Next year our AC will be ten years old, and that means our warranty expires. From what I understand, you can't get another warranty on an AC unit because it's ten years old. I've heard from AC techs that I should start getting prepared to have the unit replaced because they don't last much longer than that, and, if I replace it before the warranty runs out, I'll get a deal on the next warranty(I think it was $900 at the time). Has your AC died around the time the ten years is up, or do they keep going longer than what I'm hearing from techs and others?

If it is still working fine, I would let it run for at least a few more years. A new Carrier system comes with a 5 year parts and labor warranty and a 10 year parts warranty for no extra charge. In any event, I would never pay for an extended warranty on anything. That is against my economic principles.

$900 is about 20% of new unit save your money keep up your maintenance let ride till the end

At our last home, in Tennessee, we replaced the heat pump about 17 years ago. We had it serviced twice a year, spring and fall. It still works and if the new owner keeps up the maintenance it should last for 3 or 4 more years accoring to the company that serviced the unit. If you don't have them serviced regularly, yeah ten years is probably the time to plan on it failing.

Average life expectancy of a builders grade heat/air unit is 12 to 15 years. Proper maint will get you to the 15! We are at 10 and Sun Cool says ours looks fine for now. Units that cost twice as much will last longer, but not twice as long. Buy cheap and replace more often.

When you need non-warranty service call Chuck Farrell Air conditioning. I used him when my warranty expired after 10 years and he gave me honest and economical service during that period. I replaced mt unit after 15 years and after getting 4 quotes he was minimally $1000 under the others. Two years into my new unit with no issues.

15 years on products used in TV is a reasonable expectation.
So at 10 years you have some time yet to go.


We decided to be proactive and replaced ours at 15 years.
The prior year we replaced a capacitor on the outdoor fan motor....then 6 months later the fan motor

New units are so much more efficient and significantly quieter!

"if it ain't broke, Don;t fix it" Put away 1,000 or 1500 / year into an account u can't raid .. Pay for the capacitor that will blow , or a minor freon leak out of pocket. When the time comes to put bessie to bed, you'll have the money to replace her without any impact.

Exactly!

They are not taking any new customers. They are actually sending new customers to other AC companies in the area

We just moved to TV after 30 years and 300 miles further south. Our builder grade air conditioner was 20 years old when we replaced it with a Trane. When we would go away for several months in the summer, the only thing we left on was the air conditioner at 79 degrees. Our electric bill, for each month we were gone, was a whopping $13.28 cents and that was with the old 20 year old Rudd. We only replaced it because at 20 years, we were afraid it might die on us, while we were away. I was always told 12 years is the max, but I'm not sure any more.

Chuck Farrell replace our GRANDAIRE heat pump/air conditioner this past March. The unit that was there when we bought the house. We were told by two separate technicians it was the one that came with Our Manufactured Home. It was installed in 1987. It looked like it was as old as they said it was. 32 years old, they proved it by the Serial Number. Pretty Good I'd say.

It was working fine but since I couldn't survive long without A/C if it went down so we replaced it with exactly the same model. They said the return and supply ducts were still in good shape but we had them replaced anyway, it wasn't much more money. Chuck & every employee is just as good as everyone before me said they were. Count us as Happy.

They say nothing stops a Trane however mine had a evaporator leak at nine years of age. Wound up putting a multi stage compressor Lennox and air handler about five years ago for eight grand.

I agree I have original AC unit 17 yrs. old. I had it serviced this past spring by stan swander ... still running strong

Leave it alone!
 

We purchased our house 2 years ago, it’s 24 years old as was almost everything in it. I NEVER had an issue with the heat and the a/c worked flawlessly. It was serviced regularly by Holiday so I decided to get 3 quotes on replacing it even though it worked great I didn’t wanna pash the envelope and be stuck without it working. we opted for a 16 seer on our CYV and had it replaced, I’d say at 10 years all you need is a honest company which there are many to dye your annual preventative maintenance and you’ll be fine. I recommended Holiday to quite a few neighbors and we are all happy getting 3 quotes make sure you compare apples to apples. My cost was 6k good luck.

If you install a new A/C do it in the winter time. You get better deals then because their looking for work.

This is true in normal areas. But, not so sure it holds in The Villages!

To be prepared set the money aside for a new one in case it breaks. I think you should go for 15 years or longer. Maybe decide what you would want for a replacement now and update your thinking as the years go buy.
Remember parts break and repairing them can still be worth the costs.

If it's not broke don't mess with it. 12-15 years is normal. 18 years (which I did twice) is lucky

Thank you everyone......really informative posts. Although I was told ten years, hopefully I be lucky enough to get extra years out of it.

When replacing, consider Amana. Lifetime warranty parts and labor the one time I replaced at another house.

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My opinion
 

You may want to listen to the home show on 96.5 FM Sunday mornings. You can call in and get a reply from their experts.
If, I recall it is protech AC.

According to what I think I know-not an expert-the life of a central AC system is about 15 years. The is Florida, you likely have a heat pump so you are running it all year long.

Then their is the efficiency rating. Ours, installed by the builder is 6 years old and it is marked SEER 15. We were in Fenny an I looked they are still using SEER 15. You can be sure that as the unit ages it no longer is as efficient as it once was.

As to your warranty running out after ten years. We did not take the extended warranty that they sold to you. You might want to price one of the companies that all of your appliances.

As to saving for a replacement that depends on how you think, how you handle money. You can, set up like the old Christmas club kind of thing where you save so much a month into your AC fund. If, you are paying too much income tax and get a refund every year, you can put that money into an AC account.