AC Installation in Van Buren, AR
A new air conditioner in Van Buren will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Crawford County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Five months of 90-degree afternoons
Van Buren summers run May through September, and the afternoons that whole stretch average 90°F. A new air conditioner here spends most of the year working, not just a few weeks of it. That is five months of long run times, day after day, with little break between them.
Crawford County has also logged 38 hail events and 60 damaging wind storms over the past ten years, with one hailstone recorded at 2.5 inches. Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet the federal efficiency minimum of 14.3 SEER2, so whatever goes in will at least start from that baseline.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 38 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 Crawford 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 covers the contractor, not the job, so it tells you the state tested this company and keeps a record of them, not that this particular installation was checked. Because the state holds this authority, counties and cities in Crawford County cannot add their own HVAC license on top of it. One license, issued by the state, is what stands behind the contractor here.
For an air conditioner installation, that state license is what stands behind the person doing the work. In most cities and counties, the job itself also needs a permit from the local building office and an inspection once it's done, which is separate from the license and covers whether the installation was done to code.
Source: Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There's no fixed number that works for every house. A contractor sizes the unit by looking at your square footage, insulation, window placement, and how much shade your house gets, then runs that through a load calculation. Bigger isn't better here. An oversized unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out, so the house feels clammy even at the right temperature. With summer highs around 90°F here, getting the size right matters for how the house feels from May through September, not just for the utility bill.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor and outdoor units were installed together and are close in age, replace both. Matching a new outdoor unit to an old indoor coil can hurt efficiency and sometimes voids the warranty on the new equipment, because the two are engineered to work as a pair. A contractor can check the age and condition of your indoor coil and tell you whether it can handle a new outdoor unit or whether it makes more sense to do both at once.
- Do HVAC contractors in Van Buren 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, and you can confirm it's active through the state licensing board.