Derek Cole explains that HVAC systems in North Carolina's Sandhills last 12-15 years, with compressors engineered for about 10. High humidity and thinner, more efficient components wear them out faster. Monthly filter checks, regular coil cleaning, and professional tune-ups help extend life, but when repairs get costly, age and efficiency matter more than emotion.
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Home and Life Comfort with Derek Cole. Hey, what's up, everybody? Welcome back to Home and Life Comfort podcast. Good to be with you. I am Derek Cole. And today I want to talk about something that every homeowner faces eventually, but they never really plan for it. That is the question we get a lot, which is how long is my heating cooling supposed to actually last? Well, here's the answer. It depends. I hate that answer. But look, because there's what people hope and then there's really what it's like in the field. So around here, we're in North Carolina, in the Sandhills, this region, your System will last 12 to 15 years on average. And that depends a lot on usage, on maintenance. How you treat this system. It has a lot of factors and it goes back to what I said when I started, which is it depends because it really does depend on how you treat that system as to how long it's going to last. So typically, this is not a guess. This is what I've seen in the field for over 20, almost 25 years. Now. These systems typically last 12 to 15 years, but that depends on a lot of factors. And it all lines up in how's the equipment built today? The compressor, the heart of the system. The heart of the system. Generally, manufacturers tell us it's engineered to last 10 years. 10 years. The heart of the system. The heart of the person. The system is built to last for 10 years. So anything above and beyond that is borrowed time. It's great. The compressor is the heart of the system. So once that starts aging out, everything connected to that system is the same age. A big repair bill might get you running again, but it doesn't reset the life of the system. That's the hard truth, and that's not always pleasant to hear, but the factors that cause this happen again. We're in southeastern North Carolina, so why do systems wear out this fast? And first of all, humidity. North Carolina moisture is tough on the equipment. It works on metal. It works on the electrical connections, insulation, airflow. It speeds up corrosion and creates build up on coils and inside of the units and crawl spaces. We have a lot of crawl spaces. That's typically not the best environment for the system. So over time, the strain adds up. Second, dirt and biological growth. Outdoor units pull in pollen, pulling dust, debris all year round and all inside your home and in the duct system as well as the crawl space. When we talk about crawl spaces, you talk about moisture, you talk about indoor quality challenges. That's constant. That's every single, single Year, every single month, something is going on. The system ends up working harder to move the same amount of air because of the dirt and the biological growth. Again, a lot of our systems are in crawl spaces. That's not a good environment. It's damp, dark. Again, you have the indoor cold. You have that cool air in that unit. Cool air, damp, dark. What does that equal? Growth. It equals growth. The same things happens in a package unit. Again, the moisture around here is nothing to play with. So when you get that system in a cold, damp, dark environment, things start to grow. And unless you handle that growth with UV lights, which is something we've talked about over and over again. And feel free to search on YouTube and you'll find all of our documentation. But the easiest thing to do sidebar. Easiest thing to do is go to sims1hour.com Derek AI is right there. Ask him any question you want. He'll answer the question and he'll give you the reference, YouTube video or podcast it came from. And third, the modern way equipment is built, today's systems are more efficient than ever. That's good for your power bill, but it's thinner tubing, it's thinner metal, it's thinner copper or whatever they're using for refrigerant lines that is thinner than it's ever been before. Those. We're trying to hit those efficiency standards, which is great for your power bill, but it's not great for longevity. They're not built for the units that used to last 20, 25 years. I was at a gentleman's house one day and he said, we're talking about a new system. He said, well, I hope this one lasts 25 years like the other one. I said, it's not going to happen. He said, what? I said, it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. They're not built that way. Why not? Very good question. Copper, aluminum, all that stuff is getting more expensive, right? So to have the thick copper, back in the old days when they had thick copper, thick metal units, that unit would be so expensive to build, it would last 20, 25 years. Because they've proven it can. The problem is that, you know, will be so expensive at the box, you're not going to pay for it. You're going to go back to this cheaper unit, which is more efficient, but doesn't last as long. So it's a simple supply and demand. You're not going to be willing to pay all that money up front for a system that lasts 20, 25 years because it's going to be expensive. Thick copper, thick aluminum, thick metal. Good old days of tanks being units. Those days are gone. It's kind of like a, you know, 1970s Chevy truck versus today's trucks. It's a completely different build. They're built today to be efficient, to be gasoline efficient, to not waste gas. Back in those days, English energy, not so much a worry. They're built like tanks, right? I mean, you've seen it, you've lived through it. You know what I mean? So how do you get the most life possible with what you have? It's not complicated, it's not secretive. I've talked about it for over, over and over. I've talked about so many times. But it does take consistency to meet these demands. First of all, check your air filter every single month. You don't change it once a season, you don't check it once a season, you change it when you need to, but you check it every single month to make sure you have good airflow. Airflow is critical. Speaking airflow, keep the coils clean. Get a routine maintenance. It is very important. Keep the dirt, debris build up, keep it off of that coil so it can transfer heat as efficiently as possible, which is very important for your power bill. Make sure your systems installed correctly. The sizing, the duct design, the airflow, that's half of the battle right there. A bad install can shave years of a system before it even gets going. We have a little scene around here, and it's true, the most important day in the life of a new system is the day it's installed. As the day is installed again. This is in a fridge. This isn't something you pick up at Home Depot and plug into the wall. No, this has to be professionally installed and backed up by a company that knows what they're doing. Now let's talk about the part no one likes, which is the decision point. When a system gets into that 10 or 15 year window and a major repair is needed, shows up, you got to sit back, you got to look at the whole picture, not just today's repair cost. You need to look at the age, the efficiency, the reliability, how often it's been breaking and what your utility bill looks like. Because like it or not, you, you have no control over what the power company is going to charge. You do have control over how much energy you use. And you can be as smart as possible and be efficient as possible and help that energy bill because that energy bill is coming every month. That's coming every month. So take control do what you can. Be efficient as possible. Eventually you cross a line on age, efficiency, reliability, where you cross the line where you're not really fixing the system anymore, you're really investing in borrowed time. And that's the problem, because that's not a good place to be. You're investing in borrowed time. You're throwing good money, chasing bad outcomes. You spend thousands to keep an aging system Olympic alone. The goal isn't to replace the equipment early. The goal is to be smart about timing and not get caught making emotional decisions. When the house is too hot, too cold, the system quits at the worst possible moment. We got a heat wave coming in. We got a cold snap coming in. It's an emotional decision. You don't want to be stuck making that choice. Plan ahead, maintain what you have, pay attention to age. And when the time comes to make a decision based on the long game, comfort, reliability, efficiency, and not today's repair bill, we're in a better spot. Because the system that lasts the longest are the ones that never break. They're the ones that were installed right. They're the ones that were maintained consistently and replaced at the right time before they start running the house instead. Observing it home and life comfort with Derek Cole.
