AC Installation in New Bedford, MA
A new air conditioner in New Bedford will run from July through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Bristol County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of real heat, then it's done
New Bedford only needs air conditioning for July and August. Summer afternoons average 81°F, warm enough that a home without cooling gets uncomfortable fast, but the season is short.
A new central air conditioner installed here still has to meet the federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2. Bristol County also sees its share of severe weather, with 282 damaging wind events and 20 hail events recorded over the past ten years, so the outdoor unit needs to be installed to hold up outside, not just run well when the weather is calm.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 81°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 20 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 $40 a year to run in Bristol County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Bristol County home, from EIA household energy data, Massachusetts fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There is no answer to that without someone measuring your house. Square footage matters, but so does how much sun your walls and windows get, how much insulation is in your attic, and how many people live there. A contractor will do a load calculation, room by room, to size the system correctly. Going by square footage alone is how you end up with a unit that is too big, which cools the air fast but never runs long enough to pull the humidity out.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases you replace both together. The outdoor condenser and the indoor coil are matched to work at a specific efficiency, and pairing a new condenser with an old coil often means the system never reaches the rating it was built for. It can also void the manufacturer's warranty on the new unit. A contractor can look at the age and condition of your indoor coil and tell you whether it has enough life left to make replacing just the outdoor unit worth it.
- Do HVAC contractors in New Bedford need a state license to work on my home?
- A contractor should be able to show you a license before any work starts. Ask to see the number and hold onto it with your paperwork. If the job involves wiring for the new system, that part of the work may fall under a separate license too, so it is worth asking who is doing what before the job begins.