There really isn’t any rational reason for completely forgetting that the HVAC equipment would need to be replaced.
I remember when the residential HVAC turned twenty.
That’s because I actually thought about starting a savings account just for the new HVAC unit. But that plan never got out of the brief thinking phase. So when the HVAC technician told us that our heat pump might not make it through the summer, I was caught off guard. We get seasonal HVAC maintenance from the HVAC professionals twice a year. There is the heating maintenance in the fall followed by an air conditioning tune up in the spring. Last spring, after the air conditioning tune up was when we were confronted with the heat pump problem. Of course, we simply needed more time. We just had to get another summer out of that heat pump in order to have time to save more money. My wife and I really talked it out and decided that we’d go for it with the old heat pump. And we did more than just roll the dice. I really sealed up the house super tight and we were committed to lessening the load on the heat pump. For sure, the thermostat setting was perhaps the highest it’s ever been during a summer. But we stuck with it. And I think this was a good thing because we learned to acclimate to the heat and humidity a bit better. Believe it or not, we got to October and had enough money pulled together to replace the old heat pump. It was a big gamble but I’m sure glad that it ended up paying off.