AC Installation in Concord, NC
A new air conditioner in Concord will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Cabarrus County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Concord asks for five straight months of cooling
From May through September your air conditioner runs nearly every day, working against summer afternoons that average 88°F. That kind of stretch is what wears out a unit, not any single hot day.
Any new central air conditioner installed now has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2. Cabarrus County also sees its share of hail and wind, with 26 hail events and 60 damaging wind events recorded over the past ten years, so the outdoor unit needs to hold up outside as well as it cools inside.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 88°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 26 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 Cabarrus 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.
That license is issued to the contractor, not to each job. The State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinkler Contractors tested that contractor before licensing them, and the license covers the business, not the air conditioner going in at your house.
For the installation itself, most cities and counties require a permit before the work starts and an inspection once it is done. That inspection is what catches a bad refrigerant line or a unit set up wrong, separate from whatever the state license already tells you about the contractor.
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 depends on your square footage, your insulation, how many windows you have, and which way your house faces, not just a rule of thumb. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, room by room, rather than guessing from the size of your old unit. Putting in one that's too big cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out, so the house feels clammy. Too small, and it runs constantly on those 88 degree afternoons and still can't keep up.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor coil and outdoor unit weren't installed together, replacing just the outdoor unit can cause problems. The two are matched to work at a specific capacity, and pairing a new condenser with an old coil often means it never runs the way it's rated to. Age matters too. If the indoor coil is old enough that it's due for its own replacement soon, doing both now instead of later can save you from paying for labor a second time. A contractor can check whether your coil is a match before you decide.
- Do HVAC contractors in Concord 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 any one job, so it's worth confirming before work starts rather than after. For an AC installation, you'll also need a permit from the local building office, and the work gets inspected once it's done.