I am facing a total replacement of my central air system and trying to make the smartest financial choice. The local HVAC companies want around fourteen thousand to do the job. My house is roughly 1800 square feet and uses standard ductwork.
I started pricing things out to see where my money was actually going. I found that I can buy the equipment myself and just pay for labor. A Blueridge unit or a costway 3 ton 19 seer2 high-Performance heat pump system matches my home specs for thousands less than the contractor quotes. The catch is that independent installers usually will not offer the same ten year labor warranties that the big companies provide. For those of you who are strict with your money, is peace of mind worth paying double for the exact same cooling capacity?
Is the warranty on a new AC unit worth paying a 300% markup?
byu/Olosko_Logic inpersonalfinance
Posted by Olosko_Logic
13 Comments
is $700 a year for 10 years worth it to you to get a warranty on your $7000 hvac would be my question
Typically, service work will be cheaper than replacing the unit. If they offer at least a 1-3 year warranty, I can’t see why it would be a problem as long as you try to use it extensively during the warranty period to shake out any gremlins or mistakes.
I laughed at the HVAC company when they told me that when the price difference was $6k vs $60k (other quotes were for $45k and $50k) as I can just replace the entire system if an issue ever comes up. It won’t be until the entire system is replaced for the minimum 9th time that I may wish I had a warranty. I don’t regret my choice.
Seriously. Some HVAC companies need to be brought to reality on pricing.
They’re offering 10 year LABOR warranties? Most times it’s only parts for 10 and labor for a year or two.
Those low grade units are very efficient and tempting, but when they inevitably need service as all hvac systems do, it may be a challenge to find someone to work on them. Then sourcing the parts in a timely manner can be another ordeal altogether. When it’s 10° or 100° outside and my unit dies, I like knowing the service company has the part necessary in stock or can get it fast.
Honestly, after trying to actually get a warranty coil replacement for a leaking microchannel system that was installed 4.5 years ago and so far failing, I would say no. Warranty doesn’t do anything if the manufacturer finds even the tiniest reason to get out of coverage. Not to mention seeing so many people coming here to complain about getting absolutely hosed on non covered necessities adjacent to the warranted repair, like refrigerant. It’s not really a warranty if the component and labor are “free” but you’re paying a 10x markup on refrigerant so they can make up for it.
If you could buy two systems and pay someone to install the second system for less than the ‘warranted’ system, it doesn’t seem like the markup is worth it.
What is a labor warranty going to cover? Nothing labor related is going to break 10, 5, or even 1 year after installation.
If the ductwork and air handler is already good to go, installing the unit is not worth $14,000, at least IMO.
Heat pumps have a lot of issues I would take the warranty and peace of mind knowing everything is covered for 10 years because I can guarantee that someone will be out there repairing it before then. Especially the control board when it fails and you have no heat. Just saying
14k is what my grandfather paid last year for two new units in his 6k house…. That number seems high…
Verify that local companies are truly local. Private Equity is snapping up every single company in our area and systems are priced up 3X here, too. 3X what these were costing SS recently as 2022.
I’m surprised that you were able to find an installer. When I looked up a system years ago I couldn’t find anyone to install it
Samsung keeps trying to sell me on a warranty for my fridge. Warranty costs more than the fridge did. No, it makes no sense to pay more for a warranty than the total replacement value. Zero financial sense.
Warranties are never worth the money, that is why they sell them, if they lost money, they wouldn’t. Next is most warranties are very tough to claim against.
WTF is a 10 year LABOR warranty??? I can’t imagine what that means other than horse shit. So if it fails in 3 years and the mfr warranty is 5 years, they will just say that it was a hardware failure covered under warranty and that the failure was not the fault of their labor, so you have to pay for the labor to replace the mfr covered part. No? I just can’t see any scenario where they would say “yup, that failure was due to our shoddy labor x years ago” when we installed it” So it seems like $7k for nothing. Or am I misinterpreting what a labor warranty means?