About 15 years
If its a copeland scroll compressor it should be Life time..
in residential air conditioning about 15 years
10 years
10 years
Contact the manufacturer for an estimate if you are trying to figure depreciation over useful life.
It depends a lot on the quality of the unit, and where you live (how much it runs.) Here in Texas 10 years is not great, and 15 years is pushing it.
Why is RPM (speed) so important to the life of a compressor
how about instead of asking us, Do your own home work! have a super sparkly day :)
As far as house applications you want your thermistat set to no lower that 66F. Not just because of the bill, but also it will shorten the life of the compressor and those are monsterously expensive. To give you an idea of how it affects it, The normal life span of a compressor cand be up to thirty years. When you continously crank the thermistat year after year to 66F or below the life span can go as low as ten years!
Regular care and cleaning of home furniture will extend its useful life. Routinely cleaning your home furniture will allow you to prevent problems that arise from lack of care and will allow you to find and repair, if possible, any normal wear-and-tear.
in a typical residential split system, the condenser fan is cooling the compressor so i wouldn't expect the same useful life from the compressor if it were not being cooled. you could set up its own fan i suppose. you can separate the evaporator and condenser about 25' (50' total line circuit) off the shelf. farther than that, the manufacturer usually has a larger line set (diameters) to keep the same performance rating. you also get into oil drainback issues, i.e. you have to pay attention in sloping the lineset to drain oil back to the compressor.
Zero Ice reduces the amp pull on the AC and helps extent the life of the compressor. It averages between $100 - 200; depending on where you live, and service fees, ect.