AC Installation in Chattanooga, TN
A new air conditioner in Chattanooga will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Hamilton County will get in touch.
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Five months of Chattanooga heat, every year
Your air conditioner works from May through September here, five months a year, with summer afternoons averaging 87°F. That is the stretch it has to get through without a break.
Hamilton County has also logged 117 damaging wind events and 9 hail storms over the past ten years, one dropping hailstones 1.75 inches wide. A condenser sits outside through all of that. If this is new construction, it also has to meet the federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 87°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 9 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 Hamilton County home, from EIA household energy data, Tennessee fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There is no single size that fits every house, and picking one off square footage alone usually gets it wrong. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, which looks at your square footage, insulation, window area and direction, and how many people are usually home. In Chattanooga, where cooling runs May through September and summer afternoons average 87°F, an undersized system will run constantly and still not keep up. An oversized one cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity down, so the house feels damp. Get the load calculation done rather than matching the old unit's tonnage.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If the indoor and outdoor units were installed together and matched to each other, replacing just the outdoor unit usually is not a good idea. The coil, the blower, and the outdoor unit all have to work at the rates the manufacturer designed for. Put a new outdoor unit on an old coil and the pairing can run poorly and wear out faster than it should. A contractor can check whether your indoor coil is compatible with a new outdoor unit, but if the coil is old too, replacing both at once is usually the sounder path.
- Do HVAC contractors in Chattanooga need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Tennessee requires HVAC contractors to be licensed or registered with the state, depending on the size of the job. Ask to see the license number before signing anything, and you can look it up on the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors and Home Improvement Contractors' site to confirm it is current. A contractor can tell you which requirement applies to your job when they price it.