AC Installation in Asheville, NC
A new air conditioner in Asheville will run from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Buncombe County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of real heat
Asheville only asks for cooling from June through August, but those afternoons average 80°F, and your air conditioner has to handle that heat on demand. A short season doesn't mean an easy one. The unit still needs to be sized right for your home and hold up when it's running hardest.
The outdoor unit sits outside year round, through whatever the weather brings. Buncombe County has logged 55 damaging wind events and 22 hail events over the past ten years, with hail up to 2.5 inches. Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet 14.3 SEER2, the federal efficiency minimum, so whatever goes in should already clear that bar.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 80°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 22 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 $10 a year.
Estimates for a typical Buncombe County home, from EIA household energy data, North Carolina fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
North Carolina requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors licenses the contractor, not the job. That means the person or company was tested and is on record with the state before they ever get to your house, but the license itself does not follow them room to room checking their work.
That's where the permit comes in. In most cities and counties in Buncombe, replacing an air conditioner needs a permit from the local building office, and an inspector checks the finished work before it's signed off. The license tells you the contractor was qualified to take the job. The permit and inspection tell you this particular installation was done right.
Sources: North Carolina General Assembly · North Carolina State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not a chart based on square footage. A contractor measures your insulation, your windows, your ceiling height, and how much shade your house gets before recommending a size. An oversized unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the moisture out, so the house feels damp. An undersized one runs constantly on the 80 degree afternoons here in June through August and still falls behind. Ask whoever quotes the job to walk through how they arrived at the number.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor coil and outdoor unit were installed together, replace them together. The coil and the compressor outside are matched to work at a specific refrigerant charge and airflow, and pairing a new outdoor unit with an old coil often means the system never runs quite right, even when both pieces are technically working. Age matters too. If the indoor coil is old enough that it could fail in the next year or two, replacing it now instead of after another breakdown saves you a second service call. A contractor can check the coil's condition and tell you whether it is worth keeping.
- Do HVAC contractors in Asheville need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. North Carolina requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued through the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors. The license belongs to the contractor, not to the individual job, so ask to see it before work starts. You will also need a permit from the local building office for a new air conditioner installation, and an inspector checks the work once it is done.