AC Installation in Jonesboro, AR
A new air conditioner in Jonesboro will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Craighead County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Five months of Jonesboro heat
Your air conditioner runs from May through September here, five months of holding the line against afternoons that average 89°F. That's a long stretch of steady cycling on the compressor and the fan motor.
Craighead County has also logged 60 hail events and 91 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail as large as 4 inches. An outdoor condenser sits out in that weather with nothing between it and the fins. If you're installing new, anything built since 2023 has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2, so that part is already decided for you.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 89°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 60 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 Craighead County home, from EIA household energy data, Arkansas fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Arkansas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is held by the contractor, not issued job by job, and it applies the same way everywhere in the state. Arkansas does not let counties or cities add their own HVAC license on top of it, so a contractor licensed in one part of the state is licensed in all of it.
For this installation, that state license is what stands behind the contractor doing the work. The other check comes from the local building office, which in most cities and counties will need to permit this job and inspect it once it is done. That inspection looks at the installation itself, separate from the license.
Source: Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There's no single answer that fits every house. The right size depends on your square footage, ceiling height, insulation, window count and direction, and how much shade the house gets. A contractor will run a load calculation on your specific home rather than go off a rule of thumb, because an oversized unit cycles too fast and leaves the air damp, and an undersized one runs constantly and still can't keep up on a 89°F afternoon.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor coil and outdoor unit were installed together, replacing only the outdoor unit is usually a mistake. A new condenser paired with an old coil often won't match up correctly, and mismatched systems can run less efficiently or wear out sooner. A contractor can check whether your coil is compatible with a new outdoor unit, but in most cases replacing both at once is what protects the new equipment.
- Do HVAC contractors in Jonesboro need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Arkansas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, so anyone installing or servicing your air conditioner should be able to show one. Asking to see it before work starts is a reasonable step, not an insult.