AC Installation in Houston, TX
A new air conditioner in Houston will run from April through October every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Harris County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Your new AC needs to handle seven months of Houston heat
From April through October, your air conditioner is the thing standing between your house and a Houston summer. Afternoons average 93°F for most of that stretch, so the unit you install runs long hours, day after day, for most of the year.
Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2. That's the floor, not a feature specific to your home, and it applies no matter who installs it. Harris County also sees its share of hail and wind, with 149 hail events and 178 damaging wind events recorded here over the past ten years, so the outdoor unit needs to be placed and installed with that in mind.
- 7 months
- April through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 93°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 149 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 Harris County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Harris 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 is held by the contractor, not issued job by job, so the same license that qualifies them to work in Harris County covers this installation. TDLR tested and records that contractor before the license was granted, and the record stays with them across every job they take on.
For an air conditioner installation, most cities and counties in Texas also require a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is what checks the installation itself, separate from the license the contractor already holds.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There is no single size that fits every house, and going by square footage alone gets it wrong. The right size depends on how much heat your house gains through the walls, windows, attic and duct system, which is why a contractor does a load calculation instead of guessing from a chart. Too big and it cools the air fast but never runs long enough to pull the humidity down, which matters through a Houston summer that runs April to October. Too small and it runs constantly on the 93°F afternoons and still falls behind. A contractor will size it to your house, not to a rule of thumb.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases you replace both at once. The outdoor condenser and the indoor coil are matched to work together, and putting a new condenser on an old coil usually means it never reaches its rated efficiency, sometimes trips faults, and can shorten the life of the new unit. If the coil and indoor unit are still recent and in good shape, a contractor may be able to confirm a match, but that has to be checked against the actual equipment, not assumed. A contractor looking at both units can tell you whether a match is possible or whether it needs to be a full swap.
- Do HVAC contractors in Houston 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 hiring anyone, it is worth asking for their license number and checking that it is current.