From: "Clark W. Griswold, Jr." 
Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: Older central air and furnace on potential home
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 17:34:20 -0600

james.walker72@gmail.com wrote:

>The house is equipped with central air.  The central air unit is an
>older unit and was just repaired about a week ago.  The furnace is
>about 15 years old, as it was replaced in 1991.  We intend to sell the
>house in 5 years, since this is our first home and is a smaller house
>that we'd outgrow in time.  The home does come with a 1 yr warranty,
>but our concern is that while the furnace and a/c may make it through
>the first year, they may not last 5 years.  I do know that a furnace
>that is properly maintained can last up to 25 years.  But how long does
>a central air unit last?  By 'guesstimation' I'd say it's about as old
>as the furnace, if not a little older.

There's no reason why a properly maintained A/C shouldn't continue to run for
years. That said, if your A/C is 15 years old, you will see a substantial
reduction in your electric bill by replacing it with a more energy efficient
unit. Chances are, the one you have has a SEER of 8 or less. New A/Cs must be 13
or better.

You might try to find out what was done to repair the current unit. If they just
say the freon was filled without the source of the leak identified, you have a
problem.