AC Installation in Lubbock, TX
A new air conditioner in Lubbock will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Lubbock County will get in touch.
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Five months of Lubbock heat, every year
Your air conditioner works May through September here, with summer afternoons averaging 92°F. That is five straight months of the compressor running most days, and Lubbock's hail and wind add to the load on the outdoor unit. Ninety-three hail events and 150 damaging wind events have hit the county over the past ten years, with hail as large as 4.5 inches.
A new central air conditioner installed today has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2. Sizing it right for the heat here matters as much as the rating on the label.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 92°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 93 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 Lubbock 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 issued to the contractor by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and it covers that contractor, not the individual job. TDLR tested them and keeps a record of who holds the license, so the credential follows the person or company doing the work, not this particular installation.
For the install itself, the license is what stands behind the person in your house, but the job gets its own layer of oversight too. In most cities and counties around Lubbock, putting in a new air conditioner needs a permit from the local building office, and the work gets inspected once it's done. That inspection is what catches problems in the installation itself, separate from whether the contractor is licensed to be there in the first place.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There's no fixed answer without a load calculation on your specific house. A contractor figures this out by looking at your square footage, insulation, window area and how much direct sun your house takes on, especially with summer afternoons here running near 92°F. An oversized unit cools fast but cycles too often and leaves the house feeling damp. An undersized one runs constantly and still can't keep up when it's hottest. Ask the contractor to show you the load calculation rather than just quoting a tonnage from your square footage alone.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor coil and outdoor unit are different ages or different efficiency levels, replacing just the outdoor unit usually isn't a good match. The two are matched at the factory to work together, and pairing an old coil with a new condenser can mean you lose efficiency and sometimes void the warranty on the new part. If the indoor coil is old or was installed with the unit you're replacing, plan on replacing both. A contractor can check the coil's condition and tell you whether it's worth keeping.
- Do HVAC contractors in Lubbock 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. Ask to see the license number before work starts, and you can look it up on the TDLR site to confirm it's active.