AC Installation in Brookings, SD
A new air conditioner in Brookings will run from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Brookings County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of real heat, plus hail to plan around
Brookings gets three months of cooling weather, June through August, with summer afternoons averaging 79°F. That is not a long season, but it is a real one, and your air conditioner needs to be ready for it every year without fail.
The bigger risk here comes from storms. The last ten years brought 33 hail events and 77 damaging wind events to the area, with hail up to 1.75 inches recorded. An outdoor condenser sits exposed to all of that, so the unit and its installation need to hold up to what comes through. Any new central air conditioner installed today also has to meet the federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 79°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 33 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 $20 a year.
Estimates for a typical Brookings County home, from EIA household energy data, South Dakota fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
In South Dakota, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns.
South Dakota does not license HVAC contractors at the state level. That rule is left to cities and towns, so whether a license is required and what it covers depends on where the house sits, not on any statewide record.
For an air conditioner installation, most cities and counties still require a permit from the local building office, along with an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is what checks that the installation was done right, since no state license stands behind the job here.
Source: South Dakota Legislature
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There is no single answer without a load calculation on your actual house. Square footage matters, but so does how much shade your house gets, how many windows face west, how much insulation is in the attic, and how tight the ductwork is. A contractor will run a Manual J calculation to size it correctly. Putting in a unit that is too big cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out of the house, and one that is too small runs constantly on the hottest afternoons and never quite catches up.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If the indoor coil and outdoor unit are more than a few years apart in age, replacing just the outdoor unit usually is not a good idea. The two are matched to work together, and pairing an old coil with a new condenser can mean the system never reaches its rated efficiency, sometimes voids the warranty on the new part, and can shorten its life. A contractor can check the age and condition of both and tell you whether the coil is still a good match. If the whole system is old, replacing it together is usually the more reliable path.
- Do HVAC contractors in Brookings need a state license to work on my home?
- South Dakota does not issue a state HVAC license. Licensing for this kind of work is handled by cities and towns, so what is required depends on where your house sits. Installing an air conditioner in most cities and counties also needs a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is done, separate from whatever licensing the contractor carries.