When my husband and I bought our house, we knew that the heating and cooling system would need to be replaced in the near future.
It is a packaged unit that is installed outside.
The equipment is quite large, extremely noisy and shows some age and wear and tear. It’s not overly attractive but it manages to keep our home comfortable for the majority of the year. We live in an area where the summer temperatures climb into the triple digits with horrible humidity. We rely on air conditioning for the majority of the year. The most severe weather is a challenge for our cooling unit. It runs just about non stop but manages well enough. Our winter seasons are short and the temperature rarely drops below 45. On the rare occasions when we get colder weather, our heating system tends to freeze up. We then shut it down and attempt to thaw it out with hair dryers. We’ve added an electric heater that simulates a wood burning stove in the living room. That offers enough extra heat for us to get by. Just recently, we noticed that the system was running but providing no cool air. When I called for repair, I assumed the technician would take one look at our ancient system and tell me we’d need a new one. He inspected the equipment and found a small refrigerant leak. He wasn’t able to tell whether it was new or an old leak. He said that the system is far too old to find replacement parts and suggested just adding refrigerant and hoping for the best. We’re now hoping to get a couple more years of operation out of the heating/cooling unit. It would probably be wise to start looking into the cost of replacement. I just know it’s going to be a really expensive project, and I’m not looking forward to it.