Repair or Replace? Appliance Decision Calculator
Enter the appliance, its age, the repair quote and what a new one costs — get a clear repair-or-replace call using the 50% rule and published appliance life expectancies.
How this tool works
Repair-or-replace is really two questions at once, and most rules of thumb only answer one of them.
Question 1 — is the repair expensive relative to a new one? That is the trade's 50% rule: if the quote is more than about half the price of a comparable new unit, replace. It is a genuinely useful heuristic because a repair buys you a used appliance, while that same money put toward a new one buys a warranty and a full lifespan.
Question 2 — how much life is left to buy? The 50% rule alone would tell you to fix a $200 fault on a 20-year-old furnace, which is usually wrong. So we weigh the age against a published life expectancy for that specific appliance. Those figures come from InterNACHI's Standard Estimated Life Expectancy Chart for Homes — a refrigerator is rated 9–13 years, a dishwasher 9, a washing machine 5–15, a furnace 15–25, a tank water heater 6–12. We use the midpoint of the published range as “typical life” and the top of the range as the outer limit.
How the call is made:
- Replace if the repair is over 50% of a new unit, or the appliance is already past the top of its published life range.
- Borderline if the repair is over 35% of new, or it is past its typical life, or it has under three years of expected life left.
- Repair otherwise — a modest quote on a machine with real life left in it.
We also show cost per remaining year — the repair divided by the expected years left. That single number is often the clearest way to see a bad deal: $400 to buy two more years is $200/year, which is close to just budgeting for a new machine.
What we deliberately do not publish: typical repair prices or typical new prices. They vary too much by region, brand, part availability and labour rate for a published figure to be honest. The only two numbers worth trusting are the written quote in front of you and the real price of the model you would actually buy — so those are the two you enter.
This is an estimate to help you think, not financial advice. Get a firm written quote, ask what the diagnosis actually is, and check whether the unit is under warranty or subject to a recall before you decide.
How long home appliances last — published life expectancies (20 appliances)
| Appliance | Where | Published life | Typical (midpoint) | What usually ends it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refrigerator | Kitchen | 9–13 years | 11 years | A sealed-system or compressor failure on a fridge past 10 years is the classic replace case; door seals, thermostats and ice makers are usually the cheap end of the range. Today's certified full-size models use a median of about 465 kWh/yr. |
| Freezer (stand-alone) | Kitchen | 10–20 years | 15 years | Chest and upright freezers are simple machines and often outlast a fridge by years. |
| Dishwasher | Kitchen | 9 years | 9 years | InterNACHI gives a single figure of 9 years rather than a range. |
| Range / oven (electric) | Kitchen | 13–15 years | 14 years | Elements, igniters and control boards are individually replaceable, which is why ranges often justify a repair well into their teens. |
| Range / oven (gas) | Kitchen | 15–17 years | 16 years | InterNACHI rates gas ranges longer-lived than electric; a separate gas oven is listed at 10–18 years. |
| Microwave oven | Kitchen | 9 years | 9 years | Magnetron replacement labour frequently exceeds the price of a new countertop unit — the 50% rule bites hard here. |
| Range / oven hood | Kitchen | 14 years | 14 years | Mostly a fan and a light; motor and switch parts are usually cheap. |
| Garbage disposal | Kitchen | 12 years | 12 years | InterNACHI lists food-waste disposals at 12 years. |
| Trash compactor | Kitchen | 6 years | 6 years | The shortest-lived appliance on InterNACHI's list. |
| Washing machine | Laundry | 5–15 years | 10 years | One of the widest ranges on the chart — build quality and load volume dominate. Bearing and drum failures are the ones that usually end a washer. |
| Clothes dryer | Laundry | 13 years | 13 years | Dryers are mechanically simple and frequently worth repairing. Note the vent itself is a separate item: plastic ducting is rated 5 years, steel 20. |
| Water heater (tank) | Plumbing | 6–12 years | 9 years | A leaking tank is not repairable — that is a replacement. Elements, thermostats and anode rods are. |
| Water heater (tankless) | Plumbing | 10 years | 10 years | InterNACHI lists instant / on-demand water heaters at 10 years. |
| Sump pump | Plumbing | 7 years | 7 years | Cheap to replace relative to the cost of a flooded basement — most people replace rather than repair. |
| Central air conditioner | HVAC | 7–15 years | 11 years | A compressor or sealed-system repair on an older unit is usually the point where replacement wins, especially if it still runs discontinued refrigerant. |
| Window air conditioner | HVAC | 5–7 years | 6 years | The shortest-lived HVAC item on the chart; repairs rarely pencil out. |
| Furnace | HVAC | 15–25 years | 20 years | Long-lived, but a cracked heat exchanger (rated 10–15 years on its own) is a safety issue and effectively ends the furnace. |
| Heat pump | HVAC | 10–15 years | 13 years | Runs year-round in most climates, which is why it is rated shorter than a furnace. |
| Dehumidifier | Other | 8 years | 8 years | InterNACHI lists both whole-home and portable dehumidifiers at 8 years. |
| Bathroom / exhaust fan | Other | 10 years | 10 years | Ceiling vent fans are separately listed at 5–10 years; a noisy fan is usually a motor, and a new fan is often cheaper than the labour. |
FAQ
Should I repair or replace my appliance?
Weigh two things together. First, the size of the quote relative to a new unit — the trade's 50% rule says replace if the repair costs more than half the price of a comparable new machine. Second, how much life is left: a published life expectancy for a refrigerator is 9–13 years, a dishwasher 9, a washing machine 5–15, a furnace 15–25. A cheap repair on a young appliance is almost always worth it; an expensive repair on one already past its rated life almost never is. This tool combines both.
What is the 50% rule for appliances?
If a repair costs more than about 50% of the price of a comparable new appliance, replace it instead. The logic is that the repair money buys you a used machine with no warranty and unknown remaining life, while the same money put toward a new one buys a full lifespan plus a warranty. It is a rule of thumb, not a law — it ignores age entirely, which is why it should be paired with the appliance's expected life.
How long do appliances last?
From InterNACHI's published life expectancy chart: refrigerator 9–13 years, stand-alone freezer 10–20, dishwasher 9, washing machine 5–15, clothes dryer 13, microwave 9, electric range 13–15, gas range 15–17, garbage disposal 12, tank water heater 6–12, tankless water heater 10, central air conditioner 7–15, furnace 15–25, heat pump 10–15. These assume normal use and regular maintenance — the chart itself notes life depends heavily on how hard the appliance is used.
Is it worth repairing a 10-year-old fridge?
It depends on the quote. A refrigerator is rated 9–13 years, so at 10 you are already at the typical end of its life with perhaps a couple of years left. A $120 thermostat or door-seal repair can still be worth it. A $600 sealed-system or compressor repair on the same fridge is not — that is roughly half a new unit for a machine that may not last long enough to earn it back. Run both figures through the calculator and look at the cost-per-remaining-year.
When is an appliance not worth fixing?
Four clear signals. The quote is over half the price of a new one. The appliance is past the top of its published life range. It has already needed a significant repair in the last year or two. Or the failure is one of the terminal ones — a leaking water-heater tank, a cracked furnace heat exchanger, a failed sealed system or compressor in a fridge. Those last ones are not really repairs; they are the appliance telling you it is done.
Does a newer appliance save on energy?
It can, and it is the argument most often left out of the decision. For refrigerators we can be concrete: across 2,261 currently ENERGY STAR-certified full-size models, the median is about 465 kWh a year — 362 for a top-freezer, 458 for a bottom-freezer, 615 for a side-by-side, 634 for a French-door. An old fridge can use several times that, so the running-cost gap compounds every year you keep it. Check the yellow EnergyGuide label on the model you are considering and check whether your utility offers a rebate.
Should I get a second repair quote?
Almost always, if the first quote is anywhere near the replace threshold. Diagnosis quality varies a lot, and the difference between “the control board is dead” and “the door switch is dead” can be several hundred dollars on the same symptom. Ask exactly which part has failed and what it costs, so you can see how much of the quote is labour. And check the model against manufacturer recall listings — some failures are covered years past the warranty.