AC Installation in Pearland, TX
A new air conditioner in Pearland will run from April through October every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Brazoria County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Seven months of Pearland heat is hard on a new system
From April through October your air conditioner is working, and on summer afternoons here it's holding the line against 91°F. That's the stretch that matters most when you're choosing a new unit, since it runs seven months out 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 guarantee of how it holds up here. Brazoria County has seen 63 damaging wind events and 25 hail events over the past ten years, with hail as large as 2.5 inches. The outdoor unit sits outside through all of that, so how it's installed and protected matters as much as the rating on the box.
- 7 months
- April through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 25 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 Brazoria County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Brazoria 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.
That license comes from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and it belongs to the contractor, not to this one job. It stays with them from one job to the next, covering whatever HVAC work they take on.
For an air conditioner installation, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work. In most cities and counties in Texas, the job also needs a permit from the local building office, and an inspection once the installation is done. That inspection covers the installation itself, separate from the state license the contractor holds.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size depends on your home's square footage, layout, insulation, window area, and how much shade it gets, so there is no number that applies to every house. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, not a rule of thumb like square feet per ton. An oversized unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity down, and an undersized one runs constantly and still can't keep up on a 91 degree afternoon. Have a contractor measure your home and size the system to it.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases the whole system should go together, not just the outdoor unit. The outdoor unit and the indoor coil are matched to work at a specific capacity and efficiency, and pairing a new outdoor unit with an old coil often means the system never reaches the efficiency it's rated for. The compressor can also wear out early trying to run against a coil it wasn't built to match. A contractor can check whether your existing coil and ductwork are in good enough shape to keep, but replacing only the outdoor unit is rarely the right call.
- Do HVAC contractors in Pearland 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 with the state to confirm it's active.