HVAC Installation in Concord, CA
A new system here will heat from November through April and cool from June through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Contra Costa County will get in touch.
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Concord asks for both heat and cooling, most of the year
Winter nights here average 41°F from December through February, and homes need the furnace running from November through April, six months a year. Summer afternoons average 85°F, and the air conditioner carries the load from June through September, four months a year. That leaves only a couple of months when the system gets to rest.
Most homes here heat with gas, so the furnace and the coil are doing separate jobs on the same air handler, and both need to hold up under regular use. Storms are part of the picture too. Contra Costa County has logged 166 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and 17% of California households went at least a day without power in 2024. A new system here should be sized for what the summer and winter actually demand, not just for the months in between.
- 6 months
- November through April, your system heats
- 4 months
- June through September, it cools
- 41°F
- the average winter night it heats against
- 85°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
California requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license comes from the Contractors State License Board, and it covers the contractor, not this one job. It is what separates someone the state has licensed from someone who just says they know the work.
For an installation like this, the license is what stands behind the person doing the job. The job itself still gets a second check. In most cities and counties, putting in a new heating and cooling system needs a permit from the local building office, and the work gets inspected once it is done.
Sources: California Legislative Counsel · Contractors State License Board
- When should I replace my HVAC system?
- Replace it when repairs start happening every year, or when the system is old enough that the next breakdown could leave you without heat or air. Furnaces and air conditioners both last a couple decades, but the last few years of that life tend to be expensive ones, with a bigger repair bill every heating or cooling season. Homes here need heat from November through April and cooling from June through September, so there are only a couple months a year where the system isn't doing one job or the other. If your energy bills have been climbing while the equipment does the same work, that's another sign it's losing efficiency. A contractor can look at the age and condition of what you have and tell you whether repair still makes sense or if replacement is the better bet.
- Should I replace my furnace and air conditioner at the same time?
- If they're close in age, replacing both together often makes sense, but it depends on the condition of each one. A furnace and AC installed at the same time tend to wear out around the same time, so if your furnace is failing, your air conditioner may not be far behind it. They also share the air handler and ductwork, so replacing both lets a contractor match the whole system instead of pairing new equipment with an old system that wasn't built to work with it. That said, if one unit is much newer than the other, there's no reason to replace it before it needs it. A contractor can check both and tell you whether one is being propped up by the other.
- What happens during an HVAC installation?
- A contractor removes the old furnace, air conditioner, or both, and sets the new equipment in place, connecting it to your ductwork, gas line or electrical circuit, refrigerant lines, and thermostat. Before any of that, they size the new system for your home, since a furnace or AC that's too big or too small won't heat or cool evenly. Once it's connected, they test it, checking airflow, refrigerant charge, and that the thermostat is talking to the new equipment correctly. Depending on what's being replaced, this can also mean adding a new vent hood, updating the ductwork near the unit, or bringing wiring up to current code. In California, an HVAC contractor doing this work has to hold a state license issued by the Contractors State License Board, so it's worth confirming that before work starts.