AC Installation in Watertown, SD
A new air conditioner in Watertown will run from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Codington County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Three months of real heat, a lot of hail in between
Watertown only asks a new air conditioner to work June through August, three months a year. Summer afternoons average 79°F, so the unit is not fighting extreme heat, but it still has to keep the house cool on the hottest afternoons in that stretch.
The condenser sits outside all year, and Codington County has logged 55 hail events and 63 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail as large as 3.75 inches. A new central air conditioner installed today also has to meet the federal efficiency 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
- 55 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 Codington 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 leaves HVAC licensing to individual cities and towns, so whether a contractor needs to be licensed for this job depends on whether the town or county the house sits in has its own rule on the books. There is no statewide test and no state record to check either way. Some places license, some don't, and the address decides which applies here.
For an air conditioner installation, the protection in Codington County comes from the permit process rather than a license. In most cities and counties, putting in a new air conditioner needs a permit from the local building office, and the work gets inspected once it's done. That inspection is what confirms the unit was set up correctly, not a license number.
Source: South Dakota Legislature
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size depends on your square footage, your ceiling height, how much shade and sun your walls and windows get, and how well the house holds air, not just floor space alone. Two homes the same size can need different tonnage if one has more west-facing glass or older insulation. A contractor works this out with a load calculation rather than a rule of thumb. Going too big wastes money and leaves the house clammy, since the unit cools fast but never runs long enough to pull the humidity down.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor coil and outdoor unit are original to each other, replacing just the outdoor unit usually means replacing the whole system anyway. The coil and the condenser are matched to work at a specific capacity and refrigerant charge, and pairing an old coil with a new condenser can mean the system never runs the way it's supposed to. Age matters too. A new outdoor unit new air conditioners built since 2023 have to meet a 13.4 SEER2 minimum, but you only get that efficiency if the coil and furnace fan can support it. A contractor can look at what's there and tell you whether the coil is worth keeping.
- Do HVAC contractors in Watertown need a state license to work on my home?
- South Dakota does not issue a state HVAC license. Licensing is handled by individual cities and towns, so whether a contractor needs one depends on the local rules where your house sits. What's consistent almost everywhere is the permit. Installing a new air conditioner typically needs a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is finished, regardless of how licensing is handled in that town.