When to replace your AC?

Part of AC ownership also means knowing when to say goodbye. While window units can last for eight to 10 years, certain signs can indicate that something is amiss.

Polchinski explains that an AC may be at the end of its run if “your electricity bills are running much higher, but the price of electricity hasn’t changed”. If your usage hasn’t increased much from year to year, that suggests your unit is running less efficiently, he explains. That might mean that the motors are getting weaker, or there could be a “low charge in the refrigerant, which could be an indication that there’s a small leak”, Polchinski says. Frozen coils can also be a sign of a slow refrigerant leak, says Carbone. If you have frozen coils, there’s likely ice buildup around the coils and the unit isn’t efficiently cooling your home.

Window units use refrigerant, a chemical cooling agent, to remove heat and humidity from a room. During the process, the refrigerant changes state from liquid to gas. A leak can cause the refrigerant to escape as a gas. If an AC is leaking liquid, that’s more likely to be condensation buildup.

Older units also simply don’t work as well. “You’re just going to be paying for non-efficient equipment,” Carbone says.

You can bring an older AC to a specialist to see if they can fix whatever’s wrong. But Polchinski says that, because it’s expensive to repair and AC units are getting cheaper, “it probably doesn’t pay to repair it”.