AC Installation in Elizabethtown, KY
A new air conditioner in Elizabethtown will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Hardin County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Five months of real heat, every year
From May through September, your air conditioner has to work, five months of the year with afternoons that average 86°F. That is not a few hot weeks. It is most of the warm season, day after day.
Hardin County has also seen 32 hail events and 74 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail as large as 2.75 inches. A unit installed here should be able to take that kind of weather. If you're putting in a new system, federal rules require at least 14.3 SEER2, so whatever goes in has to meet that mark.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 86°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 32 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 Hardin County home, from EIA household energy data, Kentucky fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Kentucky requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
That license comes from the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction, and it belongs to the contractor, not to any one job. It covers the business as a whole, not this particular install.
For putting in a new air conditioner, the other check on the work happens closer to home. Most cities and counties require a permit for a job like this, and someone from the local building office comes out to inspect it once it's done. That inspection is separate from the license and looks at this specific job, not the contractor's record.
Sources: Kentucky Legislative Research Commission · Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There's no single answer without a load calculation done on your actual house. A contractor figures this out by looking at your square footage, insulation, window count and orientation, and ceiling height, not just square footage alone. Going too big is as much a problem as going too small, since an oversized unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out, leaving the house feeling clammy. A contractor can run this calculation and size the unit to your house instead of guessing from a chart.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases, if the outdoor unit is failing, the indoor coil and furnace or air handler should be looked at too. Manufacturers match outdoor units to a specific indoor coil, and pairing a new condenser with an old one can mean it never runs at the efficiency it's rated for, and can shorten its life. Age matters as well. If the rest of the system was installed around the same time as the failing outdoor unit, it's worth asking a contractor to inspect the whole thing rather than replacing one piece. A contractor who inspects both sides of the system can tell you whether a partial replacement makes sense for your house or not.
- Do HVAC contractors in Elizabethtown need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Kentucky requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued by the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction. For an AC installation, the job will also need a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. Asking to see a contractor's license number before work starts is a reasonable thing to do.