AC Installation in Waco, TX
A new air conditioner in Waco will run from May through October every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers McLennan County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Six months of Waco heat is hard on a new system
Your air conditioner runs from May through October here, six months of summer afternoons averaging 94°F. That is most of the year spent holding a house against real heat, not just a few sharp weeks. A new unit needs to be sized and installed right to keep up over that stretch without running itself ragged.
Any central air conditioner installed new has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2. That is the floor, not a guarantee of comfort. What matters just as much is whether the system matches your house and gets put in correctly, since even an efficient unit struggles in a Waco summer if it was not sized for the job.
- 6 months
- May through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 94°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 102 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 McLennan County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical McLennan 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 by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and it belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. TDLR tests and records the person or business holding it, so a licensed contractor in McLennan County has already been checked once by the state before ever showing up at your house.
For an air conditioner installation, that license is what stands behind the work, but it is not the only check. In most cities and counties around McLennan County, this kind of job needs a permit from the local building office, and the work gets inspected once it is done. That inspection is separate from the state license, and it is what confirms the installation itself was done right.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There is no single answer without a load calculation done on your actual house. A contractor works this out from your square footage, your insulation, how many windows you have and which way they face, and how many people live there. Going by square footage alone is how you end up with a unit that is too big, and an oversized unit cools the air fast without running long enough to pull the humidity out. That leaves rooms feeling clammy even at the right temperature, and it wears out the compressor sooner from starting and stopping so often.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases it makes sense to replace both the outdoor unit and the indoor coil together. The two are matched to work at a specific efficiency and capacity, and pairing a new outdoor unit with an old indoor coil usually means you lose the efficiency gain you paid for, sometimes voids the warranty, and can shorten the life of the new compressor. Six months of the year here, from May through October, your system is working hard against afternoon highs near 94°F, so a mismatched pair gets tested fast. A contractor can look at the age and condition of your indoor coil and tell you whether it is worth keeping.
- Do HVAC contractors in Waco 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, or look it up yourself on the TDLR website.