AC Installation in Sioux Falls, SD
A new air conditioner in Sioux Falls will run from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Minnehaha County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of real heat, and hail to think about
Summer here runs June through August, and afternoons average 81°F. That's a short season, but the unit still needs to be sized and installed right to keep up when the heat is on.
Minnehaha County also sees its share of hail and wind. Ten years of records show 95 hail events and 144 damaging wind events, with hail up to 3.5 inches. An outdoor condenser sits exposed to all of that, so where it's placed and how it's protected matters. 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
- 81°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 95 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 Minnehaha 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.
Minnehaha County does not set its own HVAC license either. Whether a contractor needs one depends on whether Sioux Falls or the town the house sits in has its own rule. There is no statewide list or exam behind the trade here, so the protection is not a license record kept in one place. It comes down to whatever the local city or town office requires.
For this job, the check that applies is the permit and inspection most cities and counties require for an air conditioner installation. That means the local building office looks at the work after it is done and confirms it was installed correctly. In South Dakota, that inspection is the protection in place, not a state license.
Source: South Dakota Legislature
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- It depends on your square footage, how much shade and sun the house gets, how well it's insulated, and a few other things about the house itself. There's no chart that gets this right from the outside. A contractor works it out with a load calculation, which looks at your walls, windows, attic, and layout room by room. Going by size alone, or matching whatever was in there before, is how you end up with a unit that short cycles or one that can't keep the house cool on the hottest afternoons.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your furnace and outdoor unit are close in age, replace both. The indoor coil and outdoor unit are matched to work together, and pairing a new one with an old one often means you don't get the efficiency or the reliability either was built for. If your furnace is newer and in good shape, a contractor can tell you whether it will pair correctly with a new outdoor unit or whether the coil needs to come out too.
- Do HVAC contractors in Sioux Falls 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 state license that covers the work. What's required, and who issues it, depends on where the house sits. For an AC installation, most cities and counties also require a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is done.