AC Installation in Cumming, GA
A new air conditioner in Cumming will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Forsyth County will get in touch.
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Five months of Cumming summers, and hail to plan around
Your air conditioner works May through September here, five months of afternoons that average 86°F. That is the stretch it has to get right every year.
Forsyth County has also seen 14 hail events and 48 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 1.75 inches recorded. An outdoor unit sits exposed to that. Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet the federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2, so efficiency is already part of the equation before you pick a model.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 86°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 14 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 Forsyth County home, from EIA household energy data, Georgia fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Georgia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The state license is held by the contractor, not tied to your address or to this one job. Georgia's Construction Industry Licensing Board tests contractors before they can hold this license, and it stays on record with the state after that. That is different from a county sign-off or a business registration. It means someone checked this contractor's qualifications before they were allowed to take on work like yours.
For an air conditioner installation, the license tells you the contractor is qualified to do the work. It does not tell you the install itself was done right, and that is where the local building office comes in. In most cities and counties here, putting in a new air conditioner needs a permit, and the work gets inspected once it's finished. That inspection is what confirms the unit was set up correctly, not the license.
Source: Georgia Secretary of State
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not the square footage of your house. A contractor looks at your insulation, your windows, how many floors you have, and which way your house faces before landing on a number. An AC that is too big cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out, so the house feels clammy even at the right temperature. One that is too small runs constantly on those 86°F afternoons and still struggles to keep up. Have a contractor size it for your house rather than going by the unit you're replacing, especially if you've added insulation or new windows since it was installed.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases you replace both the outdoor unit and the indoor coil together. The two are matched to work at a specific efficiency and capacity, and pairing a new outdoor unit with an old coil usually means you lose the efficiency gain you're paying for, sometimes voids the warranty, and can leave the system short on capacity for a Cumming summer. If your indoor coil is old enough that the new outdoor unit isn't a listed match for it, replacing just the outside piece isn't really an option anyway. A contractor can check whether your current coil and any ductwork can carry over, but plan on the coil going out with the condenser most of the time.
- Do HVAC contractors in Cumming need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Georgia requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued by the State Construction Industry Licensing Board. Ask to see the license number before work starts, and you can look it up with the board to confirm it's current.