HVAC Installation in San Marcos, TX
A new system here will heat from November through March and cool from April through October every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Hays County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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A system that has to run nearly every month of the year
San Marcos asks for cooling from April through October, seven months of summer afternoons that average 94°F. Winter is shorter but still real, November through March, with nights averaging 41°F. That leaves almost no month where a new system sits idle.
Most homes here heat with electricity, so both the furnace side and the AC side of a new system see real work. And the equipment has to hold up through more than heat and cold. Hays County has seen 8 winter storms and 36 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and a third of Texas households went at least 24 hours without power last year. A new system installed here needs to handle what the weather does, not just what the thermostat asks for.
- 5 months
- November through March, your system heats
- 7 months
- April through October, it cools
- 41°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 94°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
Texas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation tests and records the contractor, not the crew that shows up or the specific job. The license tells you the company has met the state's bar to do this kind of work. It does not mean the state signed off on your installation.
That sign off, where it happens, comes from the local building office. In most cities and counties, putting in a new furnace, air conditioner or heat pump calls for a permit, and an inspector checks the work once it is done. That inspection is where someone independent looks at the gas line, the wiring and the refrigerant connections on your specific system, which is the part licensing alone does not cover.
Source: Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
- When should I replace my HVAC system?
- Replace it when repairs start happening every year, when the unit is old enough that another repair barely buys you a season, or when a breakdown will cost more to fix than the system is worth. Your air conditioner here runs from April through October, seven months of the year, so a system that's already struggling only gets worse under that kind of repeat strain. If your energy bills have been climbing without an obvious reason, that's often the compressor or coil losing efficiency as it wears out. A contractor can look at the age, the repair history, and the condition of the unit and tell you honestly whether another repair makes sense or whether it's time to replace it.
- Should I replace my furnace and air conditioner at the same time?
- If both are original to the house and close in age, replacing them together usually makes sense. They're built to work as a matched pair, often sharing the same blower and coil, so pairing an old furnace with a new air conditioner or the other way around can leave you with a system that never runs quite right. It also means one crew, one visit, and no second round of work in a year or two when the other unit fails. If one unit is much newer than the other, a contractor can tell you whether it's worth keeping or better to replace both now.
- What happens during an HVAC installation?
- A contractor removes the old furnace, air conditioner, or both, and sets the new equipment in place, matching it to your home's ductwork and electrical setup. This includes connecting the refrigerant lines, wiring the system to the thermostat, and checking that the ducts are sized correctly for the new unit's airflow. Once everything is connected, the contractor tests the system through a full heating and cooling cycle to confirm it's running the way it should. Homes here need heating or cooling every month of the year, so a properly finished installation matters from the first day it runs.