The Ultimate Home Maintenance Guide – Part 6 of 7 – HVAC Systems
If you’ve just bought your first home, sooner or later the question will dawn on you…what do I have to do to maintain it? Or perhaps you’re a long-time home owner and have been blindsided by expensive repairs. Even the wisest among us have been guilty of underestimating the cost of home maintenance and repairs. The changing weather conditions of our amazing location in central Ontario present a variety of challenges you want to stay on top of as the seasons change.
In this seven-part series, we will be laying out the ultimate home maintenance guide (Romana King, Money Sense). Use this guide and feel confident that you have done everything possible to keep your house in top condition, avoid larger costs that result from poor maintenance, and have a budget plan in place so you’re not caught off guard by expensive repairs.
In the sixth installment of our seven-part series, we will focus on your HVAC systems.
HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning)
Furnace or air conditioning repairs are not something most of us would be comfortable doing. Like electrical, the big work is something you may want to budget to bring in the experts to do.
However, routine upkeep can be done from home and is worth marking a day on your calendar for each year to make sure it is done in a timely manner. Any furnace repairman can tell you that the phones start ringing with emergency calls the first day of frigid or sweltering hot weather. Monitoring your systems will allow you to schedule necessary work to be done in a timely manner, that saves money and frustration.
Annual
Replace furnace filters.
Every 3 months. $5-$40
Annual furnace inspection and cleaning by licensed technician
Every year, $200
Cover (but do not wrap!) A/C to keep debris from getting inside. Clear away leaves before use.
Every year, $30
Vacuum duct openings.
Several times each year. $0
As Necessary
Replace furnace
Every 20 years, $2,000-$6,000
Replace central A/C.
Every 15-20 years, $1,000-$3,000
Professional duct cleaning IF the house is new or has had major renovations.
One-time cost. $120-$250
Making the investment to do annual maintenance should add up to $930-$2,600 each year, and will result in a long-term investment of lower costs for issues that will become costly.
Your annual cost for various replacements will run $3,500-$7,500, meaning you should budget between $4,500-$10,000 per year for the combination of maintenance and replacements.
Maintaining your home in top condition is work, and it can be expensive. But attending to basic work before it becomes major will have lasting payoffs, and the knowledge and comfort of knowing you are keeping the structure sound and safe for your family makes it all worthwhile.