Our heating systems and furnaces start to break down more often when it’s colder outside. When that happens, the first question on your mind might be, what exactly constitutes a repair? A repair is basically anything outside of maintenance and a complete system replacement. First and foremost, maintenance isn’t a repair. (Maintenance is keeping a system in good working order.) Then there’s a complete system replacement. An HVAC system is often made up of an outside unit, an inside unit, and any other components that are part of the system. You might think that a major repair constitutes a replacement, but that’s not exactly the case because the whole system didn’t get replaced.
The next question you might have is how much it’s going to cost to get back in working order. Repairs vary in size, but I can give an average range: a heating repair is going to average between $300 and $500. (There may be some repairs that are well over that, and some that are well under.) A furnace, for instance, is fairly simple. Overall, there isn’t much complexity to how it functions, so repairs tend to be somewhat straightforward. It has a heat exchanger and uses some sort of fuel to provide heat. There might be a gas valve that needs to be changed, and cleaning would be a maintenance item. Heat pumps are somewhat more complicated, though. Maybe the whole internal coil needs to be replaced, which can be much more expensive.
The important thing to remember is that you can prevent HVAC repairs from being necessary by simply doing your maintenance. Once the age of the system gets to a certain point, you’ll start to see recurring repairs that seem to happen practically every six months. In that case, it may be time to consider a complete system replacement so that you’re not wasting money putting repairs into an old system.
If something does go wrong with your heating system this winter, we answer our phones 24 hours a day with a live person (unless the call takers are already on another line). We might make a visit to someone’s home in the middle of the night, depending on whether it’s a Diamond Club family member and/or there’s a true emergency. We do prioritize those kinds of situations because nobody really wins if it isn’t a true emergency.
It might be a good idea to keep the contact information for a qualified professional handy just in case you need it. You can reach out to Wisler Plumbing online or by giving us a call at 540-483-9382.
