AC Installation in Riverside, CA
A new air conditioner in Riverside will run from April through October every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Riverside County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Seven months of cooling, and afternoons near 99
Your air conditioner runs April through October here, seven months of the year. On summer afternoons that average 99°F, it is not cycling on and off. It is running long stretches just to hold the house where you set it.
Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet the federal efficiency minimum of 14.3 SEER2.
- 7 months
- April through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 99°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 7 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
A higher-efficiency unit would save about $70 a year to run in Riverside County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Riverside County home, from EIA household energy data, California fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
California requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is issued to the contractor by the Contractors State License Board and it covers the contractor, not the job. It stays with them from one installation to the next rather than being pulled fresh for this one, so what it stands behind is the company doing the work, not a certificate for this particular unit going in.
For an air conditioner install, that license is what backs the contractor's qualification, but the job itself also needs a permit from the local building office in most cities and counties, with an inspection once the work is done. The permit and inspection are separate from the license. They cover whether this installation was done right, not whether the contractor was qualified to do it.
Sources: California Legislative Counsel · Contractors State License Board
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not a chart based on square footage. A contractor measures your windows, insulation, ceiling height and duct layout, then runs the numbers to find the tonnage your house actually needs. Here in Riverside, with summer afternoons averaging 99°F and cooling needed April through October, a unit sized wrong will struggle for most of the year no matter what the label says. Too big and it cools the air fast but never runs long enough to pull out the humidity. Too small and it runs constantly without catching up. Ask for a Manual J calculation rather than a guess off the old unit's size.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases the outdoor unit and the indoor coil should be replaced together. They're matched to work at a specific efficiency and capacity, and pairing a new condenser with an old coil usually means you lose the efficiency gain you paid for and can shorten the life of the new unit. New central air conditioners have to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2, and that rating depends on the outdoor unit and coil working together as designed. A contractor can tell you whether your existing coil and ductwork are in good enough shape to keep, but replacing only the condenser is rarely the right call.
- Do HVAC contractors in Riverside need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. California requires anyone doing HVAC work to hold a license issued by the Contractors State License Board. You can look up a contractor's license number on the CSLB website before hiring to confirm it's active and covers the work you need.