Furnace and AC replacement in Delaplane.

In a propane house the air conditioner is half of a set. Its coil rides on top of the furnace, so a Delaplane system from the 1990s usually has a furnace and a condenser of the same age, wearing out together. About half the homes in 20144 went up in the 1980s and 1990s, the generation coming due now. A heat pump with an air handler, the other common setup in the ZIP, is its own job at $8,499 to $21,650.

Summer at the village’s 449 feet is valley weather. Warrenton 3 SE, the nearest long-record station, averages an 85 degree July afternoon and about 21 days a year at 90 or hotter, with July nights that only drop to about 66. Muggy spells are the real test: in July 2019 the Weather Service put heat index values over 110 across northern Fauquier, with dew points near 70. A pair sized to this house pulls water out of the air along with the heat; one that’s too big runs in short bursts and leaves the rooms damp.

Hail is the other summer risk. On June 2, 2019, hailstones the size of golf balls fell at Aspen Dale Winery, a couple of miles west-southwest of the village. Stones that size fold a condenser’s thin fins flat, and a coil with its fins pressed shut can’t shed heat. Some of that combs straight and some doesn’t. After a hard storm, look the outdoor unit over before cooling resumes, then call us and we’ll check the whole system.

With nearly every home in the ZIP detached, plenty have two systems: a pair in the basement for the main floors and another for the bedrooms, its ducts often running through the attic. Price both even if only one is failing. If they went in together, the second one is rarely far behind.