AC Installation in El Paso, TX
A new air conditioner in El Paso will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers El Paso County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of El Paso heat, every year
From May through September your air conditioner runs against afternoons that average 95°F. That is five months of steady work, not just a few hot weeks, and the unit you install has to hold up to all of it.
El Paso County has also seen 57 hail events and 70 damaging wind events over the past ten years. An outdoor unit sits exposed to that. If you're installing new, anything built since 2023 has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2, so that baseline is already covered.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 95°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 57 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 El Paso 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 Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation tests and licenses HVAC contractors, and keeps a record of who holds that license. It is tied to the contractor, not to any one job, so the same license covers this installation and every other job that contractor takes on.
For this installation, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work. On top of it, most cities and counties in Texas require a permit for a new air conditioner, and an inspection once it is in, which checks the work itself rather than the contractor's record.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There's no single number that works for every home, it depends on your square footage, how many windows you have, which way your house faces, how much insulation is in the attic, and how many people live there. A unit that's too big cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the moisture out, so rooms feel clammy. A unit that's too small runs constantly on a 95°F afternoon and never quite catches up. A contractor will do a load calculation on your actual house rather than go by square footage alone, and that's the number worth trusting.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor coil and outdoor unit are matched and the coil is still in good shape, replacing just the outdoor unit can work. But if the system is old, the two parts often aren't compatible with each other once one is swapped for a newer model, and mismatched equipment loses efficiency and can shorten the life of the new unit. A contractor can check the age and condition of the coil, the refrigerant type, and whether the two sides will actually work together before you decide.
- Do HVAC contractors in El Paso 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 that license number and checking it, since it's the state's way of confirming the person working on your system has met its training and testing requirements.