Are you considering upgrading the cooling system in your Dayton area home this spring? If so, you’ll want to take a careful, considered approach. An A/C is a major household investment, and any mistakes at purchase will carry long-term consequences. That’s why when deciding on an A/C replacement, you should consider both its first-time and lifetime costs.
First-Time Costs
These include both the purchase price of the A/C replacement and how much it costs to install it in your home. As with any large appliance or system, scrimping on the actual purchase could bring you big regrets down the road.
Lifetime Costs
These include operating costs over the years and future repairs and maintenance charges. The following are factors influencing lifetime costs:
- Energy efficiency: This is a crucial factor to consider at purchase. Opting for a lower-efficiency A/C will result in higher electricity costs for the life of your air conditioning system than if you had selected a higher-efficiency model. It won’t take too many years before the energy savings of a high-efficiency A/C will far exceed whatever savings you might have gained at purchase with a lower-efficiency system.
- Durability and quality: A cheaply made A/C from an off-brand won’t deliver the cooling performance and efficiency you’ll get with a name-brand cooling system from a reputable dealer. With the low-cost system, your lifetime costs will be higher, with more repairs and a shorter lifespan. Those extra years you’ll get with a quality A/C replacement really are money in the bank.
- Professional installation: Sizing an air conditioner for a modern home takes more know-how than just matching the equipment to your home’s square footage. As a key part of the sizing process, professional A/C technicians will perform a Manual J cooling load calculation on your home, taking into account its size and layout, along with multiple other factors. Otherwise, the A/C may be oversized or under-sized, which in either case means higher energy bills, poorer performance, and more stress on parts.
To discuss a professional A/C replacement in your Dayton home, please contact us at Ace Hardware Home Services, Inc.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Dayton, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Maxx Studio/Shutterstock”
