Tennessee HVAC Help
Overhead view of an outdoor AC condenser unit on a concrete pad next to a house with a dark shingle roof.

AC Installation in Franklin, TN

A new air conditioner in Franklin will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Williamson County will get in touch.

Tell us about the job

It takes about a minute.

Step 1 of 3: Equipment
An outdoor air conditioning condenser unit on a concrete pad next to the gray vinyl siding of a residential home.

Five months of Franklin summer heat

From May through September your air conditioner is what keeps the house livable. Summer afternoons here average 88°F, and the unit has to hold that back for five months straight, not just on the hottest days.

Williamson County also sees its share of hail and wind. Over the past ten years the area logged 60 hail events and 205 damaging wind storms, and an outdoor condenser sits right in the open for all of it. Any new system installed here has to meet the federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2, so whatever goes in will be built to handle a Franklin summer at that baseline or better.

5 months
May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
88°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
Isometric cutaway illustration of a small house showing interior rooms with furniture, an indoor air handler with ducts in the attic space, and refrigerant lines running to an outdoor condenser unit on a pad.
Your air conditioner works hardest from June through August.

NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals

Overhead view of an air conditioning condenser unit on a concrete pad next to a house with asphalt shingle roofing and vinyl siding.

Going above the federal minimum saves little here, about $20 a year.

  • A higher-efficiency unit$260 a year
  • A new unit at the federal minimum, 14.3 SEER2$280 a year

Estimates for a typical Williamson 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?
The right size depends on your square footage, your insulation, how many windows you have and which way they face, and the layout of your ductwork. There's no shortcut that works from the street. A contractor will walk the house and run a load calculation to size it correctly. Going bigger than what the house needs isn't a safety margin, it actually causes the unit to cool the air fast without running long enough to pull humidity out, so the house feels clammy even at the right temperature.
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 at the same time. The outdoor unit and the indoor coil are matched to work at a specific capacity and efficiency, and pairing a new outdoor unit with an old indoor coil usually means the system never reaches the efficiency rating either piece was built for. New central air conditioners have to meet a 14.3 SEER2 minimum now, and you only get that number when the whole system is new. A contractor can look at the age and condition of what you have and tell you whether the indoor coil is worth keeping.
Do HVAC contractors in Franklin need a state license to work on my home?
Yes, anyone installing or servicing central air conditioning in your home needs to hold a state HVAC license. Ask to see the license number before work starts, and check that it's active. A licensed contractor also carries the insurance that protects you if something goes wrong during the installation.
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