by Jake Lawson, HVAC Insights Expert
Introduction
One of the most common conversations I have with hotel owners and property managers starts out with what sounds like a perfectly reasonable statement.
“It’s an old PTAC unit but it’s still working."
That seems a sound logic on the face of it. Why spend the money to replace it when the unit is still heating and cooling? What’s the point of spending capital on new PTAC units when the current ones seem to be working just fine?
The truth is, PTACs rarely fail in a dramatic fashion. HVAC equipment usually doesn’t go from working one day to not working the next like a light bulb does. Efficiency begins to decline well before any sign of failure appears. Components wear out incrementally. The heating and cooling efficiency gradually declines. Repair frequency rises. Occupants start to experience comfort problems. Utility rates slowly go up. And then the property spends more money maintaining ageing equipment than anyone ever thought it might.
It’s important for hotels, apartment communities, senior living facilities, healthcare buildings and student housing developments to know about these hidden costs. Never base a decision to keep an ageing PTAC unit running solely on the fact that the equipment still turns on. It should be based on whether that equipment continues to deliver value relative to total cost of ownership. The most expensive PTAC unit in a building is usually not the one that broke yesterday. It is the one that has been draining resources over the years.
⚡ The biggest hidden cost is often rising energy bills
When people think about ageing PTAC units, the first thing that comes to mind is usually the repair costs. Indeed, energy use is often the single biggest long-term cost of older equipment.
The PTAC units are one of the most hard-working pieces of HVAC equipment found in commercial and residential properties. Central systems distribute the load over a number of components . PTACs operate room by room . A hotel could be running a hundred separate systems at the same time. Multifamily properties can have tens or even hundreds of units in operation on a daily basis. Efficiency improvements add up very quickly over the whole property.
As equipment ages , performance will inevitably begin to degrade . The coils get dirty over time. Fan motors get less efficient. Wear occurs in refrigeration components. The electrical systems are not so accurate. Thermostatic controls can drift from their original calibration. None of these issues are necessarily show stoppers for the unit but they do tend to require the equipment to use more energy to get the same level of comfort.
The Heating and cooling are one of the biggest energy costs for most buildings. For additional guidance on HVAC efficiency, see https://www.energy.gov/energysaver. When equipment is used every day, all year round, small drops in efficiency can mean big increases in operating costs.
The hard truth is that an older PTAC unit can continue to cool and heat effectively, but at the same time cost substantially more to operate than a modern replacement. The cost is spread over thousands of hours of operation, so most property owners never fully appreciate the impact.
🔧 Repairs are seldom small forever
While increased utility costs may be the largest hidden cost, repair costs are generally the most visible symptom of ageing PTAC equipment.
Most property managers can see the pattern. One unit requires a small service call. Several months later another part needs attention. A motor is changed. The thermostat begins to behave strangely. You have a drainage problem. Eventually, the maintenance staff become more and more familiar with a particular room or unit as it continues to generate service requests.
The issue isn’t that individual repairs are necessarily costly. Indeed, many repair bills appear quite reasonable, considered singly. A few hundred dollars here and there is rarely a big concern. But the cost of repeated repairs can quickly add up to much more than originally anticipated.
One thing I see quite often is owners look at repair decisions one event at a time versus looking at the whole maintenance history of the equipment. Each repair seems to make sense by itself. Replacing a capacitor is much cheaper than replacing a whole PTAC unit. It’s cheaper to repair a fan motor than to buy new equipment. The trouble is that these decisions are made repeatedly over many years.
Another often overlooked factor by property owners is parts availability. As equipment gets older, it can be harder to find spare parts. Lead times get longer. Increase in repair complexity. Technicians take extra time diagnosing problems and locating parts. What was once a simple fix can turn into a more costly and time-consuming process.
📋 Repair costs of warning signs are turning into a financial problem
Property managers should keep a close eye on ageing PTAC units if they begin to notice:
✅ Several service calls in a single year
✅ Multiple breakdowns on the same machinery
✅ Increase labour hours per maintenance event
✅ Difficult to find replacement parts
✅ Growing repair budgets each year
✅ Many complaints of occupant comfort after repairs
✅ Equipment approaching/exceeding expected service life
These indicators do not necessarily mean a replacement is needed but they tend to be a good indicator of the cost of ownership that needs to be looked at in more detail.
🏨 Guest Complaints Can Cost More Than Repairs
One of the most ignored costs of ageing PTAC units has almost nothing to do with mechanical performance.
It is the guest’s perception.
The commodity of the hospitality industry is comfort. Generally, guests do not care about the operating efficiency of a compressor or that the blower motor was recently replaced. They care about how comfortable the room is. They want to sleep well. They care that the HVAC system runs quietly and consistently during their stay.
Subtle comfort issues often start to appear long before the total equipment failure as PTAC units age. Air flow may be reduced. You may begin to see fluctuations in temperature. Humidity control may fall. Mechanical noise can increase. Startup and shutdown cycles can be more abrupt. As components age and collect debris, odours can develop.
The financial impact can go far beyond maintenance budgets. Negative reviews affect future booking decisions. Guest dissatisfaction can affect brand perception. Front desk staff may spend valuable time on comfort complaints instead of helping guests with other matters.
The hidden cost of an ageing PTAC unit often isn’t the cost of the repair at all. It’s the negative guest experience that occurs when comfort expectations are no longer consistently met.
🌡 Comfort problems usually occur before equipment failure
One of the reasons that ageing PTAC units can be so tricky to evaluate is that comfort problems often begin long before a total breakdown occurs. In fact, many occupants start experiencing performance issues months or even years before the equipment actually fails.
This is especially important because HVAC equipment is ultimately designed to provide comfort. A PTAC unit can be technically working and still be a far worse experience than it was when it was newer.
A good example is reduced airflow. Parts wear out over time . The fans may slowly lose performance . The air distribution is less effective, so temperatures are uneven throughout the room. Humidity control may also be affected. Older PTAC units are less efficient at removing moisture than they used to be, particularly during shoulder seasons when humidity levels can fluctuate greatly. Occupants may feel the room is damp, sticky or stuffy even though the thermostat shows the correct temperature.
Noise is another factor that tends to get worse with age. Bearings wear out. Fan assembly loosens. The compressors become noisier. Vibrations begin to form. Some of these problems can be solved by maintenance, but old equipment doesn’t usually become quieter with age. As PTACs age, hotels and senior living facilities may find themselves grappling with a growing number of noise-related comfort complaints.
One of the primary goals of HVAC system design is occupant comfort and consistent performance is as important as basic operation, says ASHRAE. More information on thermal comfort standards is available at https://www.ashrae.org.
👨🔧 The Labour Cost That Most Property Owners Forget to Calculate
When property owners weigh the costs of repair versus the costs of replacement, one cost is often overlooked: labour.
Each service call uses staff time. Every comfort complaint is a communication. Scheduling problems occur with any emergency repair. Every equipment problem takes maintenance personnel away from their other duties around the property.
These labour demands may be manageable on smaller properties. But in larger hotels, apartment communities, assisted living facilities or student housing developments, the cumulative effect can become significant.
There is also the staff resource opportunity cost. Time spent dealing with repeated HVAC problems is time that can’t be spent on preventative maintenance, capital improvement projects, resident service initiatives or other operational priorities.
This hidden labour burden becomes one of the largest ownership costs of ageing PTAC equipment over time.
📋 Potential Hidden Labour Costs May Include:
✅ Additional service dispatches
✅ More time spent troubleshooting
✅ Occupant communication & follow-up
✅ Out of hours emergency service calls
✅ Administering scheduling and coordination.
✅ Parts sourcing and purchasing
✅ Re-inspections after repair
Although these expenses are not typically included on equipment invoices, they can greatly affect overall operating efficiency.
🏢 Multifamily Properties Confront Many of the Same Headwinds
While the most attention is usually paid to the hospitality properties when discussing PTAC systems, apartment communities have many similar issues.
The main difference is the length of occupancy.
A hotel guest might stay for two nights. A PTAC resident could live in the same PTAC unit for years. Small problems with comfort that are easy to ignore for a short visit can become big frustrations when you have to live with them every day.
The older the PTAC units get, the more likely residents will experience temperature inconsistencies, longer recovery times, strange noises, smells or regular maintenance calls. While none of these issues are likely to be serious on their own, they can influence how residents perceive the overall quality of the property.
There are many factors that go into resident retention, but comfort is one of the most important. Property managers put a lot of effort into getting and keeping tenants. Those efforts can be quietly sunk by a tired HVAC system that generates ongoing complaints.
This is especially important in competitive rental markets where residents have a choice of housing options. Properties with a history of comfort issues may not be able to reach the same level of resident satisfaction as properties with newer, more reliable equipment.
🏘 Common Resident Complaints About Ageing PTAC Units:
✅ Uneven temperatures in the room
✅ Less Airflow
✅Too much noise of operation
✅ Musty or stale smells
✅ Slow heating & cooling response
✅ Regular maintenance visits
✅ Thermostat inconsistent
These complaints grow like a slow boil, allowing each to be waved off, but collectively they indicate a larger equipment-aging issue.
📈 How Energy Waste Turns Into a Year-Over-Year Cost
Repair costs come in waves. Energy waste never rests.
An ageing PTAC unit that is inefficient today is likely to be inefficient tomorrow, next month and next year. “Each kilowatt-hour consumed is an incremental ongoing cost that will be paid over the useful life of the equipment.”
One of the reasons that many seasoned property owners look at PTAC replacement from a total cost of ownership perspective, not just purchase price.
HVAC efficiency remains one of the most important drivers of building operating costs, according to ENERGY STAR. More resources are available at https://www.energystar.gov.
There could be a visible, immediate repair bill. Energy waste is often more subtle, quieter. But over years of inefficiency the cumulative cost can be much more than the repair bills that originally made the equipment a target.
This is especially true in properties with PTAC units that run almost year-round. Hotels, healthcare facilities, assisted living communities and multifamily properties often maintain conditioned spaces year-round, which makes efficiency losses even more costly over time.
🚨 When Replacements Are More Cost Effective
One question I get asked a lot is simple:
“How do I know when I should replace it rather than fix it?”
Sadly there is no one size fits all answer. Not all PTAC units age the same way. Service life is affected by climate, occupancy, maintenance practices, operating hours and equipment quality.
What matters more than age is the total economics of ownership.
If repair costs are low, comfort remains consistent and efficiency acceptable, continued operation could be perfectly reasonable. But when you start seeing a rash of warning signs at once, replacement can often be a serious consideration.
The best landlords see past the next repair bill and think about the bigger financial picture. They are looking at energy costs, maintenance labour, occupant satisfaction, equipment reliability, and long-term operational goals.
When viewed together these factors often lead to much clearer replacement decisions.
🔍 Signs It’s Time to Evaluate PTAC Replacement
✅ Rising costs of utilities
✅ Repeated repairs per year
✅ Increasing occupant complaints
✅ Difficult to find replacement parts
✅ Major comfort problems
✅ Equipment reaching expected service life
✅ Increased man-hours for maintenance
✅ Decreased operational reliability
When several of these signs are evident at the same time, replacement is usually the more economical choice over the long term.
🔧 Preventative Maintenance Has its Place Still
Even if PTAC units are nearing the end of their service life, preventive maintenance is still one of the best investments a property owner can make.
Regular maintenance helps to extend the remaining efficiency, identify emerging problems early, improve occupant comfort and lower the risk of unexpected failures. It may not reverse the effects of ageing but it can help slow their impact and improve the operational reliability.
The Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) still stresses the need for regular maintenance to maintain HVAC performance and equipment longevity. For more information, visit www.ahrinet.org.
📋 PTAC Maintenance Checklist
Property Managers should consider the following before peak heating and cooling seasons:
✅ Replace or clean air filters
✅ Evaporator and condenser coils cleaning
✅ Airflow performance check
✅ Check thermostat accuracy
✅ Test electric heat operation
✅ Testing of condensate drain systems
✅Inspection of repair history records
✅ Monitoring repeated occupant complaints
While it won’t solve every age-related problem, preventive maintenance often helps reduce emergency service calls and extend useful life of equipment.
🔧 Closing thoughts from Jake Lawson
One of the biggest mistakes I see property owners make is to evaluate PTAC equipment by whether it still turns on.
Functionality is not equivalent to value.
An ageing PTAC unit can still provide heating and cooling, but it will also simultaneously increase utility costs, generate maintenance costs, consume labour resources and create occupant dissatisfaction. These costs are rarely found in one place and are therefore very easy to miss.
The most expensive PTAC units are not necessarily the ones that go up in a big way. More often than not they are the ones that continue to operate inefficiently for years, quietly adding to operating expenses throughout the property.
The most intelligent property owners consider total cost of ownership over time, not just the repair bill. The financial picture becomes much clearer when you add up the energy consumption, maintenance labour, comfort complaints, equipment reliability and occupant satisfaction.
Jake Lawson
HVAC Insights Specialist
The Furnace Outlet
Next Blog: How PTAC Heat Pumps Support Sustainability Goals for Hotels and Apartment Communities
