This is the question we get asked more than any other, and the honest answer is that it depends on four things: how old the unit is, what refrigerant it uses, what the repair actually costs, and how much longer you plan to be in the house. Here is how we think it through with customers.
Start with the age
In the East Bay climate, where systems run hard through long summers, a typical residential air conditioner lasts twelve to eighteen years. Under ten years old and well maintained, repair is almost always the right call. Past fifteen, every repair is buying you a shrinking amount of remaining life.
Check what refrigerant it uses
If the nameplate says R-22, that materially changes the math. R-22 has been phased out of production, and the remaining supply is expensive. A refrigerant leak on an R-22 system can cost more to recharge than the unit is worth.
Newer systems use R-410A or R-454B, both of which are readily available and priced normally.
Apply a simple cost threshold
A rough guide many technicians use: multiply the repair cost by the age of the unit. If the result exceeds the cost of a new system, replacement is the better spend.
A $400 repair on a six-year-old unit is clearly worth doing. That same $400 repair on a sixteen-year-old unit is money spent on equipment likely to need something else next season.
Factor in what efficiency actually saves
A system installed in the early 2000s might be operating around 10 SEER today, especially with a dirty coil and a low charge. Current equipment starts at 14 SEER and goes well above. In a Brentwood or Antioch summer where the unit runs most of the day, that difference is visible on every bill.
Signs it is time regardless of the math
Some symptoms point to replacement on their own — a cracked heat exchanger, a failed compressor, repeated repairs in a single season, or a system that can no longer hold temperature on the hottest days no matter what you do to it.
- Compressor failure on a unit past ten years
- Two or more repairs in the same cooling season
- R-22 system with a confirmed refrigerant leak
- Rooms that never reach setpoint on peak days
- Utility bills climbing year over year with no habit change
We will tell you either way
We do not lead with the replacement quote. If your system has good years left, we will fix it and say so. If it does not, we will show you the numbers on both paths and let you decide.
Current promotions include $50 off air conditioning repairs and $400 off new HVAC installations, and new-system estimates are always free.