Replace or repair? A Houston homeowner’s decision framework

The 40% rule

The simplest screen: if the repair quote exceeds roughly 40% of the installed cost of a new system, replacement usually wins. In Houston terms, a $3,000 compressor job against a $7,500 replacement is 40% — right at the line. Then age breaks the tie.

Age multiplies everything

The same repair means different things at different ages:

• Under 8 years: repair almost always. The system should have years of life left, and many parts are still under warranty.
• 8–12 years: apply the 40% rule strictly, and weight efficiency — a pre-2015 system costs meaningfully more to run than anything sold today.
• Over 12 years: replacement wins sooner than intuition says. Gulf Coast systems work 2,500+ hours a year; a 12-year-old Houston unit has the wear of a 20-year northern one.

The R-22 problem

If your system was installed before 2010, it probably runs R-22 (Freon), fully phased out of production in 2020. Reclaimed R-22 gets more expensive every year — a refrigerant-side repair on an R-22 system is money spent on borrowed time. Any leak or compressor failure on R-22 equipment is a replace decision in our book.

Don’t forget the utility math

A 15-year-old 10 SEER system can use 40–50% more electricity than a new 16 SEER2 unit cooling the same house. In a Houston summer that is often $60–$120 a month — a $2,000+ repair on the old unit can quietly become $3,500+ once you add two more summers of the efficiency gap.

When repair genuinely wins

Capacitors, contactors, fan motors, and drain issues on systems under 10 years old: repair, confidently. A good contractor tells you which side of the line you are on — and shows you both sets of numbers.