AC Installation in Auburn, AL
A new air conditioner in Auburn will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Lee County will get in touch.
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Five months of 90 degree afternoons in Auburn
Auburn needs cooling May through September, five months of the year, with summer afternoons averaging 90°F. A new air conditioner has to keep up with that stretch of steady heat, not just a few hot days here and there.
Any central air conditioner installed new today has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2. That's the baseline efficiency rating, worth checking against when you're comparing units. Lee County has also logged 24 hail events and 52 damaging wind events over the past ten years, so the outdoor unit sits through weather that can mark it up as well as heat that keeps it running.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 24 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 13.4 SEER2
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Going above the federal minimum saves little here, about $20 a year.
Estimates for a typical Lee County home, from EIA household energy data, Alabama fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Alabama requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
That license means the state tested this contractor's HVAC knowledge and keeps a record of who holds it. It covers the contractor as a business, not this particular installation, so the same license applies whether the job is a repair down the street or a full system change-out.
For this job, that license is what stands behind the work. In most cities and counties in Alabama, putting in a new air conditioner also needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is finished. That inspection checks how the unit was installed, separate from what the state license covers.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not the square footage of your house alone. A contractor looks at your insulation, your windows, how many walls face the afternoon sun, and your ductwork before they land on a number. An oversized unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the moisture out, so the house feels damp. An undersized one runs constantly and still struggles to keep the house comfortable when the temperature sits near 90°F. Ask the contractor to walk you through the calculation rather than quote a size off the old unit's nameplate.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases you replace both the outdoor unit and the indoor coil together. The two are matched to work at a specific efficiency and capacity, and pairing a new outdoor unit with an old coil usually means you lose the efficiency gain you paid for, and it can void the warranty. If the old coil is near the end of its life, replacing only the outdoor unit now just means facing the same job again soon. A contractor can check the age and condition of the coil and tell you whether it's worth keeping.
- Do HVAC contractors in Auburn need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Alabama requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued by the Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors. Ask to see the license number before work starts, and you can check it against the board's records if you want to confirm it's current.