Repair or Replace Calculator

The advice people are given — replace if the repair costs more than half the new unit — ignores the two facts that actually decide it: how much life the old unit has left, and how much cheaper the new one is to run.

A cheap repair on equipment with two years left is often worse value than replacing it, and an expensive repair on a unit with eight good years left is often the right call.

Ask for the diagnosis, not just the price

A repair quote should say what failed and why. A compressor or heat exchanger failure on a fifteen-year-old system means something different from a failed capacitor, which is a routine part with a routine price.

If a contractor cannot explain which component failed and what caused it, get another opinion before spending either amount.

When replacement is the answer regardless

• A cracked heat exchanger. Safety, not economics.
• Obsolete refrigerant. Recharging systems on phased-out refrigerant gets more expensive every year.
• A second failure in two years on the same unit. The pattern is the information.

Get three quotes on replacement

Spread on the same equipment is routinely 30% or more between contractors in the same market. The bid comparison tool on this site normalises them so you are comparing the same scope.