As summer turns to fall, installing a new central A/C presents an opportunity for good timing. As with many consumer commodities, the most favorable conditions for purchasing HVAC equipment occur during the time of year when demand for that particular product is low. Just as July is a great time to get a good price on snow shovels, the right time to be thinking about installing a new central A/C is when most people are thinking about whether their furnace will make it through the approaching winter.
Do You Need a New Air Conditioner?
If you managed to nurse an aging air conditioner through another long, hot summer, congratulations. However, you might have been told you’ll soon need expensive repairs and you probably already paid more than you should have in increased utility costs as that old, inefficient A/C consumed excess energy. Most likely, you didn’t enjoy the reliably cool comfort you used to get, either. These are all common symptoms of an air conditioner approaching the end of its expected service life.
In most cases, a central A/C will last about 12 years. That’s just an average and it doesn’t mean your system will fail to function on its 12th birthday, but it also doesn’t mean you can count on optimum efficiency and performance for its final years either. Even if you upgrade to today’s baseline standard-efficiency model, if your existing unit is more than 10 years old, you’ll see an automatic reduction in costs of at least 20 percent or more from the reduced energy consumption.
Why New AC Units Are Better
Higher-efficiency A/C systems will provide even more dramatic savings. If you’ve seen the handwriting on the wall and promised yourself a new air conditioner with advanced technology, increased energy efficiency and superior cooling performance, fall is the perfect season to make that move.
Why You Should Buy Now
Here’s why installing a new central A/C when the weather cools down means a better deal in all respects:
- HVAC dealers don’t put air conditioners on sale in summer. No matter what an individual advertisement might claim, you won't get the lowest price at the time of year when demand is highest. Contractors don’t get the best prices from wholesalers during this season and therefore have no savings to pass along to you. Nor will you get the best selection. What you’ll probably be offered are the air conditioners everyone else has decided are beyond their means or inappropriate for their needs.
- You’ll probably be put on a waiting list for A/C installation. That’s because the contractor’s crews are tied up handling emergency service calls from individuals desperate for cooling. By the time fall rolls around, the contractor has caught up with service calls and previously-scheduled installations. However, he hasn’t yet been bogged down with a surplus of requests for furnace repairs. Cold weather is still over a month away and the heavy heating loads that usually trigger such events haven’t happened yet. Crews are available for installation and better able to adjust their schedule to yours—rather than the other way around.;
- During the fall, HVAC dealers can usually broker lower prices on A/C systems from wholesalers who are motivated to reduce stock as the slow winter season approaches and the focus shifts to heating. These are units that offer up-to-date technology and industry-standard performance and energy-efficiency, not leftovers at the retail level that nobody wanted. In addition, the major manufacturers themselves will frequently offer specials and other incentives to keep A/C stock moving during this transitional season.
- What season of the year would you choose to make the temporary adjustments in your home to install a new central A/C? The dog days of summer are probably not that time. Nor are the frigid depths of winter, when you’d probably prefer to keep household coming and goings to a minimum. The cool, more benign autumn weather in Baltimore is definitely more conducive to an A/C installation process and reduces its impact on your daily routine. You’re less likely to notice the brief interruption in cooling since you may well not be utilizing your new system until next spring, anyway.
For more information on selecting and installing a new central A/C this fall, in the Baltimore area contact Griffith Energy Services, Inc.
Image Provided by Shutterstock.com
