The rule of thumb is simple to state and hard to apply fairly: multiply the age of the unit by the repair cost, and if the result passes a rough threshold, replacement usually wins. We will walk that math with you on the driveway rather than hand you a number - a fifteen-year-old furnace with a four-hundred-dollar fix is a different call than a three-year-old one with the same bill.
A higher efficiency rating costs more up front and less every season after - we will show you the rated savings against your actual usage rather than a manufacturer’s best case. Refrigerant type matters too: older systems run refrigerants that are increasingly expensive and harder to source, which quietly raises the cost of every future repair on that unit.
We quote the repair even on the calls where replacing would earn us more. If the honest number is a two-hundred-dollar capacitor, that is what we write on the ticket.
