We got the heater serviced today (see previous post). Actually, I didn't call until today because it seemed to be fine all week, then went out again last night (in the midst of our Nor'easter storm).
Of course, the unit is out of warranty.
The repair was $361.60 including the service call. The other option was to extend the warranty for another year. That would be $369 and cover the service call and twice/year routine maintenance visits on the heater and AC, plus 20% off any needed parts. So including today's repair, it would come to $545.53. I don't normally believe in extended warranties, but in this case I figured it was really only costing us $184 to be covered for the year instead of $369. Plus we'll get the 2 service visits included for that price. So we decided to take the warranty just in case something else breaks. And even if nothing breaks, we'll get 2 service calls for $184 which isn't such a bad deal.
The joys of home ownership - not
April 16th, 2007 at 02:22 pm
April 16th, 2007 at 02:51 pm 1176735097
Which of course included a new heater and A/C. Not that this is always the best approach.
Replacing (as opposed to repairing) a heater can be quite expensive. But let's say you pay the $369/yr to keep extending the warranty (also assuming the option is available). Let's figure that installation + heater cost is somewhere around $6,000. That means that you could in theory pay $6,000 over 16 years, and then end up replacing the heater at that point anyway.
Personally I would sit there and watch they guys do the work on my heater, and since I'm not mechanically challenged, I'd go ahead and do the same thing for the next 15 years. At this point, we haven't had the heater serviced at all (the house is now 7 years old). We are probably going to have it serviced next year, and still plan on possible replacement of the heater when it's about 20-25 years old (but definitely before I turn 65 years old), and after the mortgage is paid off (which is only 13 years away).
April 16th, 2007 at 03:09 pm 1176736161
April 16th, 2007 at 03:27 pm 1176737254
April 16th, 2007 at 05:02 pm 1176742923
I would have gone for the extended warranty too. It just seemed to make sense and then you can have some maintenance done on it this year too!
April 16th, 2007 at 07:56 pm 1176753387
April 16th, 2007 at 10:46 pm 1176763602