AC Installation in Muscle Shoals, AL
A new air conditioner in Muscle Shoals will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Colbert County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of real heat, every year
From May through September your air conditioner runs against summer afternoons that average 89°F. That kind of heat doesn't let a system coast. It has to hold that line day after day for five months straight.
Colbert County also sees its share of hail and wind, 22 hail events and 463 damaging wind events recorded over the past ten years, with hailstones up to 1.75 inches. An outdoor unit sits outside through all of that. If you're installing new, anything built since 2023 has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2, so that much is already decided for you.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 89°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 22 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 Colbert 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 is held by the contractor, not tied to any one job, so the same license that qualifies them to work in Colbert County covers your installation along with every other job they take on. The Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Contractors is what tested and recorded that contractor before they were allowed to call themselves licensed.
On top of the license, your installation will need a permit from the local building office in most cities and counties, with an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is what checks the physical work in your home, the wiring, the refrigerant lines, the way the unit is set, separate from what the state license already vouches for in the contractor.
Source: Alabama Board of Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size depends on your home's square footage, how much shade it gets, how many windows it has, and how well it's insulated, so there's no number that applies to every house. An oversized unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out, which leaves rooms feeling damp. An undersized one runs constantly during those 89°F summer afternoons and still can't keep up. A contractor will do a load calculation on the actual house, not just the square footage, to land on the right size.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor coil and outdoor unit were installed together as a matched set, replacing only the outside unit usually isn't a good idea. The coil and the compressor are engineered to work at specific pressures together, and pairing an old coil with a new compressor can hurt efficiency and shorten the life of the new part. Age matters too. If the indoor coil is old enough that it's close to failing on its own, most contractors will recommend replacing both at once rather than paying for labor separately later. A contractor can check what's there now and tell you whether the coil is a match for a new outdoor unit.
- Do HVAC contractors in Muscle Shoals 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. It's a fair question and any licensed contractor will have no problem showing it to you.