AC Installation in College Station, TX
A new air conditioner in College Station will run from April through October every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Brazos County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Seven months of Brazos County heat, every year
Your air conditioner runs from April through October here, seven months of the year. Summer afternoons average 94°F, and that's the average, so plenty of days push past it. That's a long, hard stretch for a unit that isn't sized or installed right.
Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet 14.3 SEER2, the federal efficiency minimum since 2023. That's the baseline. What matters as much is getting the size and the installation right for a house that's going to lean on this system for most of the year.
- 7 months
- April through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 94°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 50 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
A higher-efficiency unit would save about $30 a year to run in Brazos County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Brazos County home, from EIA household energy data, Texas fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Texas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license belongs to the contractor, not to this one job. Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation issues it, and it covers the business doing the work, not a separate approval for every installation they do.
For this job, that license is what stands behind the contractor's name. Beyond it, most cities and counties in Texas require a permit for an air conditioner installation and an inspection once the work is done, which puts the local building office into this job as well, checking it separately from anything the state license covers.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There is no single number that fits every house, and a unit sized off square footage alone is often wrong. Sizing depends on your square footage, ceiling height, insulation, window area and direction, and how much shade the house gets. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, not a guess, because summer afternoons here average 94°F and an undersized unit will run constantly trying to catch up while an oversized one cools the air fast without pulling the humidity down. That calculation is the only honest way to answer this for your specific house.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases you want to replace the outdoor unit and the indoor coil together, not the outdoor unit alone. The two are matched to work at a specific efficiency and capacity, and pairing a new outdoor unit with an old coil usually gives up much of the efficiency you'd be paying for, sometimes voids the manufacturer warranty, and can shorten the life of the new equipment. If the indoor coil and ductwork are still sound, you may not need to touch them, but that's a judgment a contractor makes after looking at the actual condition of what you have, not something to assume either way.
- Do HVAC contractors in College Station need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Texas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Before you hire anyone, it's worth asking for their license number and checking it against TDLR's records so you know who's actually working in your home.