AC Installation in Gainesville, GA
A new air conditioner in Gainesville will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Hall County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of Gainesville heat, every year
Summer afternoons in Gainesville average 87°F, and a new air conditioner has to hold that line for five months straight, May through September. That is a long stretch of steady running, not just a few hot weeks.
Hail and wind show up in this area too, with 78 damaging wind events and 8 hail events recorded over the last ten years. Any unit installed outside needs to hold up against that. If you're installing new, federal rules now set the minimum efficiency at 14.3 SEER2, so whatever goes in will meet that standard from the start.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 87°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 8 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 Hall 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 license comes from the State Construction Industry Licensing Board, and it covers the contractor, not the specific job. That means the board has tested this person and keeps a record of them, but nobody signs off on your install separately just because it's on this page.
That's where the local building office comes in. In most cities and counties in Georgia, putting in a new air conditioner needs a permit before the work starts and an inspection once it's done. The license tells you the contractor was tested. The permit and inspection are what checks the work itself, in your home, on this job.
Source: Georgia Secretary of State
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- It depends on your house, not just its square footage. A contractor sizes the unit with a load calculation that accounts for your insulation, window area, ceiling height, and how much shade the house gets. Summer afternoons here average 87°F, so a unit sized too small will run constantly trying to keep up. One sized too large cycles on and off fast and does a worse job pulling humidity out of the air. Get the calculation done rather than going by the size of the unit you had before or what a neighbor's house uses.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases, 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 indoor coil usually means you lose the efficiency gain you paid for. It can also void the manufacturer's warranty on the new equipment. If your system is old enough that the outdoor unit is failing, the coil is likely near the end of its life too. A contractor can check the age and condition of your indoor coil and tell you whether it's worth keeping.
- Do HVAC contractors in Gainesville 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, or look it up yourself. That matters here too. This area has seen 78 damaging wind events and 8 hail events over the past ten years, and storm damage is exactly the kind of repair where you want to know the person on your roof or by your outdoor unit is licensed to do the work.