Repair or replace your AC unit?

Why we are an awkward source for this

Worth saying before anything else: we install systems, we do not repair them. So the arithmetic below cuts against our own interest about half the time, and you should read it knowing that. When we say repair it, there is nothing in it for us.

Where the rule works well

Mid-life systems, roughly 8 to 14 years, with a single mechanical failure. That is the genuinely ambiguous zone, and the multiplication captures it about right.

Where it breaks down

• Very new systems. A three-year-old unit with a $2,000 repair gives $6,000 and says replace, which is absurd. Check the warranty instead — it is probably covered.
• Very old systems that still work. A twenty-year-old unit needing a $150 capacitor gives $3,000 and says repair. Fine as far as it goes, but you are one failure away from the decision anyway.
• Efficiency is not in the formula. A twenty-year-old 10 SEER system costs substantially more to run than a modern one, and that cost is invisible to the rule.

The four failures that decide it outright

1. Compressor failure out of warranty — often 50–70% of the cost of a whole new system.
2. An evaporator coil leaking out of warranty — same logic, and coil leaks tend to recur.
3. R-22 refrigerant. Not produced or imported in the US since 2020. What remains is reclaimed and expensive. A leak on an R-22 system means paying a steep price for something that will leak again.
4. The third repair in two years. That is not one thing failing. That is the system telling you what the next few summers look like.

What to check before deciding

• Actual age, from the nameplate serial rather than memory.
• Warranty status — including the 10-year parts warranty that only applies if the original installer registered the equipment.
• Whether the refrigerant is R-22, R-410A or R-454B.
• Whether the failure is the compressor or coil, versus everything else.

What common repairs actually cost

The rule needs a repair quote to work with, so it helps to know roughly where the numbers usually land in this market:

Indicative North Texas ranges for context only — we do not perform repair work and do not quote it. Get a real number from a repair company before applying the rule.

The efficiency the rule ignores

The $5,000 rule looks only at the repair bill. It says nothing about what the system costs to run for the years you keep it, and on older equipment that gap is not small.

A twenty-year-old 10 SEER system uses roughly 40% more electricity than a modern 14.3 SEER2 unit for the same cooling. On a Frisco house spending $1,400 a year on cooling, that is around $400 a year in avoidable running cost. Keep that system three more years on the strength of a cheap repair and you have spent $1,200 you did not see on any invoice.

That does not automatically flip the decision — $1,200 is still a long way short of a replacement — but it belongs in the arithmetic, and the rule of thumb leaves it out.

Questions worth asking the technician

• What exactly failed, and why? A capacitor that failed on its own is different from one that failed because the compressor is drawing too much current.
• Is the refrigerant R-22, R-410A or R-454B? This changes everything and takes them ten seconds to answer.
• Is any of this under warranty? Parts warranties frequently run ten years on registered equipment, and plenty of homeowners do not know theirs is still live.
• If I do this repair, what is the next thing likely to go? An honest technician will tell you, and the answer is often the real decision.

The honest middle

Sometimes the right answer is to repair now and plan the replacement for the shoulder season — spend $400 in July to reach a February install where you will have time to compare quotes properly and better availability to choose from.

AC installation and replacement →