AC Installation in Parkston, SD
A new air conditioner in Parkston will run from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Hutchinson County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of real heat, then hail season to think about
Parkston gets three months of cooling, June through August, with summer afternoons averaging 83°F. That is not a long season, but a new system still has to keep up on the hottest days it sees.
Hutchinson County has logged 56 hail events and 65 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 2.75 inches. The condenser sits outside through all of that, so the unit and its install matter as much as the size you pick. Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet the federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 83°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 56 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 $30 a year to run in Hutchinson County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Hutchinson 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.
Hutchinson County does not license HVAC contractors itself, and South Dakota has no state license behind that either. Whether the rule is different depends on the city or town, since South Dakota leaves this to local government. There is no state record of this contractor to check anywhere.
For an air conditioner installation, what applies in most places is a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is what confirms the installation was done correctly, since no state license is standing behind the contractor here.
Source: South Dakota Legislature
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not the square footage of your house alone. A contractor measures your walls, windows, insulation and ceiling height, and factors in how much shade and sun your house gets, to figure out how many BTUs it needs to remove from the air. An oversized unit cools the house fast but shuts off before it pulls the moisture out, so rooms feel damp. An undersized one runs constantly and still can't keep up on the hottest afternoons. There's no shortcut that beats having someone measure your actual house.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your furnace or air handler is old, replacing just the outdoor unit is usually a mistake. The outdoor condenser and the indoor coil are matched to work together, and pairing a new condenser with an old coil can mean it never runs at the efficiency it's rated for, and sometimes voids the warranty. If the indoor coil is in good shape, a contractor may be able to match a new outdoor unit to it. Have them look at both parts of the system before deciding.
- Do HVAC contractors in Parkston need a state license to work on my home?
- In South Dakota, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns. There's no statewide license, so whether a contractor needs one depends on where your house is. For installing an air conditioner, most cities and counties also require a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is done. Ask the contractor how licensing and permits work where you live before the job starts.