AC Installation in Decatur, AL
A new air conditioner in Decatur will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Morgan County will get in touch.
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Five months of Decatur heat to plan for
Your air conditioner in Morgan County works May through September, five months a year, with summer afternoons averaging 89°F. That is the stretch it has to get through without a break, and it needs to be sized and installed to carry that load every one of those days.
Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet 14.3 SEER2, the federal efficiency minimum. Beyond that number, the install matters as much as the unit. The refrigerant lines have to be charged right and the ductwork has to move the air the system is built to move, or you lose the efficiency you paid for.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 89°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 26 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 Morgan 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.
The license comes from the Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors. That board tests contractors before granting the license, and the license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. It tells you the person doing the work has been checked by the state, not just that a business filled out a form.
For this job, that license is what stands behind the contractor's name. The installation itself will likely also need a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done, since that is how most cities and counties handle a new air conditioner going in. That permit and inspection are separate from the state license. One tells you who was allowed to do the work. The other checks that the work was done right.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size depends on your square footage, your insulation, how many windows you have, and which way your house faces, so there's no single number that works for every home. A contractor sizes it with a load calculation, not a rule of thumb like square footage alone. Going too big is as much a problem as going too small. An oversized unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out, so the house feels clammy even at the right temperature.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases you replace both together. The indoor coil and the outdoor condenser are matched to work at a specific capacity and efficiency, and pairing a new condenser with an old coil usually means the system never runs the way either piece was built to run. Refrigerant type is another issue if your current unit is older, since a new outdoor unit may not run on the same refrigerant your old coil was designed for. A contractor can look at the age and condition of what you have and tell you whether the coil is worth keeping.
- Do HVAC contractors in Decatur 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 it before work starts, or check it with the board directly.