Cross-post of the bump from this thread on the SA board:

Had an HVAC company out today. They are saying we have issues with the board in our furnace (not always sending the signal to kick on the blower to move the warm air). No issues with the A/C so far. Would charge ~$1,200-1,400 for that replacement, but they recommended to at least do a full furnace replacement at ~$5,400 due to the age of the system (19 years old).

Also got quoted for full system replacement including outside unit which is 17 years old. I'm always leery when people start adding more to a job but understand the system is aging. Should we just focus on replacing what isn't working or just pony up the money and and deal with everything at once?

REFERENCE INFO

• House is ~2,000 sqft
• Outside AC Unit: Trane XR13 3.5-ton from 2008 (17 years old)
• Furnace: Trane/American Standard (not sure which type) from 2006 (19 years old)

Also, the quote they provided included Lennox units, but it seems like online preferences leaned more toward Rheem/Ruud or Trane/American Standard. Can ask them to update with different equipment depending on what recommendations y'all may have.

EZ to answer this one after all these years, many systems came/went.
I think they are telling the truth
Getting all new is better since the units talk the same generation language = efficiency, $$$$ saved, no worried for another 20yrs
So long as you have a heroic installer for your area, most of the top brands will do as their quality comes/goes for profits and pay dividends

For 20 years in horrible Texas climates, I choose the top o line, all the bells & whistles (variable), no haggle and prove to me Trane or better then pull the trigger after ducts are resealed or Aerosealed. Sleep well, on to the next repair on other systems about!

You pay good money to be pampered by a system NOT to pamper & dick with it.

Lenox is horrible and sounds like a jet plane for the outside unit. Trane is not nearly what it used to be. I'm on a 23 yo carrier system and I've had several companies out over the years that told me to spend a few hundred here and there and don't replace until it dies. They've also said to do Rheem/Ruud and now daiken is in the mix. I've worked for 2 customer builders and they've both left Trane because of problems and HVAC companies going away from them. Your old Trane is probably quality for a few more years while you limp it along.

Thanks all. Was definitely having another company out to take a look (using one recommend on the San Antonio thread I linked to). Will definitely see what they say about parts as well for just swapping the board.

Let us know if you found a black spot on the back of the circuit board from a burned out transformer.

Had the second company out today (Wilks recommended on the SA board).

They said the capacitor for starting the motor is about half of what it should be, so the blower motor is pulling extra amps. The blower motor itself is actually from 95, not 2006, and has some issues too (likely the source of the original metallic smell that alerted us to a problem).

He mentioned we could just deal with the capacitor but recommended at least replacing the motor too.

He said there was what looked like a lot of construction dust covering several parts of the system (prior owners did do some updates at some point). Because of that, his main concern long-term would be the evaporator coil and other parts being affected. Said the minor replacements could buy us time but wasn't confident on how much (felt more comfortable saying 1 year but not necessarily 5-10).

Thinking we may just do the minor replacements and cross our fingers that we get several years (and that a more serious issue at least doesn't happen during peak hot or cold).

I think that's reasonable. Capacitors can go bad after many years. Ideally he can clean the blower wheel and evaporator coil which will help the system cool a little better. But if you've been getting sufficient cooling from it for all these years, there's not much described here that will shorten the life of the system.