How old is your heat pump?

justjeepin86

justjeepin86

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
Location
Winston-Salem, NC
While considering replacement, it has me wondering how long heat pumps really last. My downstairs unit is about 10 years old, but my upstairs unit is 35 years old. Original to the house. It's generally fine, but it isn't keeping up in this 100 degree heat.
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justjeepin86 said:
While considering replacement, it has me wondering how long heat pumps really last. My downstairs unit is about 10 years old, but my upstairs unit is 35 years old. Original to the house. It's generally fine, but it isn't keeping up in this 100 degree heat.
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By keeping up what are you trying to keep the temps inside at during this heat?
 
My old Goodman R-22 AC system was from the early 90s and crapped out in 2020.

It used to be about the quality of the install work, nowadays the quality of the components is more to question. The Lennox system I had installed in 2020 lost a Honeywell thermostat at 20 months and a Lennox control board at 24 months. Both replacement parts have now made it four years and counting.
 
justjeepin86 said:
While considering replacement, it has me wondering how long heat pumps really last. My downstairs unit is about 10 years old, but my upstairs unit is 35 years old. Original to the house. It's generally fine, but it isn't keeping up in this 100 degree heat.
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That generation of rheem/ruud condensers are known to be tanks. Last forever and way easier to work on than anything else out there. Wish they still made them like that.
 
drkelly said:
My experience has been that they last 10-15 years.
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New ones will make it to the far side of the "10 year" warranty period, then parts will be cost prohibitive (or unavailable).

The only issue with an old one cooling would be if it's stopped up with dust and hair, or was a little undersized from the beginning. You could also have some failing flex ducts, but that's not the equipment's fault
 
Great timing....
LOL I had to go do some digging to find out how to read the serial number of our old Bryant A/C unit.
Apparently it was made around the same time I graduated high school... May '95.
We've been in the home 16 years, 2nd owners (I'd wager this was the 2nd unit, hell maybe even the first if they didn't have A/C here in '75)
In that time everything electrical has been replaced - the usual suspects; cap, contactor, timing control unit, indoor main control board that's for the furnace and trigger A/C.
Still R-22.... and still hanging on.... barely. Last 3 days it's been running 12+ hours straight to keep the house at 76.
Makes a horrible clunk sound when it shuts down. I suspect the end may be coming. No idea what the real SEER efficiency on it is now.
Measured at the vents I get ~57 a few minutes ago, but it takes several minutes of running to get down to that. Of course its not so hot right now, I should re-measure again mid day.

I'll be reaching out to local guys to get estimates on replacements soon, but I'd love to hear any opinions
 
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RatLabGuy said:
Great timing....
LOL I had to go do some digging to find out how to read the serial number of our old Bryant A/C unit.
Apparently it was made around the same time I graduated high school... May '95.
We've been in the home 16 years, 2nd owners (I'd wager this was the 2nd unit, hell maybe even the first if they didn't have A/C here in '75)
In that time everything electrical has been replaced - the usual suspects; cap, contactor, timing control unit, indoor main control board that's for the furnace and trigger A/C.
Still R-22.... and still hanging on.... barely. Last 3 days it's been running 12+ hours straight to keep the house at 76.
Makes a horrible clunk sound when it shuts down. I suspect the end may be coming. No idea what the real SEER efficiency on it is now.
Measured at the vents I get ~57 a few minutes ago, but it takes several minutes of running to get down to that. Of course its not so hot right now, I should re-measure again mid day.

I'll be reaching out to local guys to get estimates on replacements soon, but I'd love to hear any opinions
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Buy one online and do it yourself. Have a guy hook up the lines and charge it. That's what I'm gonna do. My mil just paid 15k for one,for a 1200sf 1 level, but I think she got hosed.

I'm looking here. A buddy went this route and replaced his for about 5k. He had a 23k quote, which was a little high.


Purchase Your HVAC Equipment Direct | Mitsubishi, Trane, and Goodman AC And Furnace | HVACDirect.com

Buy HVAC equipment direct at wholesale pricing. We sell Goodman furnaces, Goodman air conditioners, Goodman heat pumps, and other HVAC equipments. Shop online now with HVACDirect.
hvacdirect.com hvacdirect.com
 
justjeepin86 said:
This is a hard question, but should I not replace and work on it? I mean, it's 35 years old?
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This is the battle I keep facing.
I keep a box of spare parts on hand, all the usual suspects listed previously, which cumulatively cost less than $100 to have just sitting and at this point I know exactly how to change everything.

However at this point its the terrible efficiency thats killing me. I can feel that disc on the power meter spinning for hours in my bones. I'm sure my Emporia app (thanks again @kaiser715 ) could tell me exactly what it costs to run all day just to keep the house at 76 but I don't even want to know....

justjeepin86 said:
Buy one online and do it yourself. Have a guy hook up the lines and charge it. That's what I'm gonna do. My mil just paid 15k for one,for a 1200sf 1 level, but I think she got hosed.

I'm looking here. A buddy went this route and replaced his for about 5k. He had a 23k quote, which was a little high.


Purchase Your HVAC Equipment Direct | Mitsubishi, Trane, and Goodman AC And Furnace | HVACDirect.com

Buy HVAC equipment direct at wholesale pricing. We sell Goodman furnaces, Goodman air conditioners, Goodman heat pumps, and other HVAC equipments. Shop online now with HVACDirect.
hvacdirect.com hvacdirect.com
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Chances are I will do something like that. Last Fall I met an HVAC guy that works for a company but has his own side gig selling / helping to DIYers and showing them how to do stuff. I could definitely see going through him for getting proper info on sizing, model etc and doing the hookup and charging.
But I suspect I'll need the condenser coil changed too and I don't know if I want to get into all that.
 
One thing to keep in mind - and not saying this is reason not to - just making sure you have full info before making a decision.

All equipment has to be purchased and registered via an authorized channel to have factory warranty. Many of the consumer direct places the OEM voids the serial number warranty when they ship it to them. Would suck to buy a brand new unit that has doa compressor and be SOL.

If you want to DIY make a friend and run it through a legit channel.
 
Ron said:
One thing to keep in mind - and not saying this is reason not to - just making sure you have full info before making a decision.

All equipment has to be purchased and registered via an authorized channel to have factory warranty. Many of the consumer direct places the OEM voids the serial number warranty when they ship it to them. Would suck to buy a brand new unit that has doa compressor and be SOL.

If you want to DIY make a friend and run it through a legit channel.
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This is good info. I do have someone that may help me.
 
Looks like Mr. Cool offers warranty with self installation. They do have some have options that have to be installed by a professional.

Gotta talk to my guy to see what he'd charge to hook up the lines and charge. I can do everything else.
 
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