AC Installation in Paragould, AR
A new air conditioner in Paragould will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Greene County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of Arkansas heat, every year
Your air conditioner works from May through September here, with summer afternoons averaging 89°F. That is five months of steady demand on the system, not just a handful of hot days.
Greene County has also seen 35 hail events and 42 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 2.75 inches. An outdoor unit sits outside through all of that. Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2, so whatever goes in will already meet that standard.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 89°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 35 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 Greene 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 issued to the contractor, not to the job, so it covers the person doing the work rather than this one installation. Arkansas keeps this in the state's hands. Counties and cities cannot add their own HVAC license on top of it, so the same license applies whether the job is in Greene County or anywhere else in the state.
That license is what stands behind the person doing the work here. In most cities and counties, an air conditioner installation like this one also needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the unit is in. That permit is separate from the license and does not depend on it. It is the local check that the installation itself was done right, apart from the state's check on who is allowed to do it.
Source: Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There is no single answer without a room by room look at your house. A contractor figures this out with a load calculation that accounts for your square footage, insulation, window placement, and how many people live there. Going by square footage alone leads to the wrong size more often than not, and an oversized or undersized unit will cost you comfort either way. A contractor can run the numbers and tell you the tonnage your home actually needs.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases you replace the outdoor unit and the indoor coil together, not just the condenser outside. The two are matched to work as a pair, and pairing a new condenser with an old coil usually means you lose the efficiency you paid for, sometimes voids the warranty. If your indoor coil is old or already showing wear, replacing only the outdoor unit tends to cause problems within a year or two. A contractor can look at both parts of your system and tell you whether the coil is worth keeping.
- Do HVAC contractors in Paragould need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Arkansas requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license to do this work. Ask to see the license number before any work starts on your home.