AC Installation in Harrisburg, PA
A new air conditioner in Harrisburg will run from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Dauphin County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of real heat, then it stops
Harrisburg gets a short cooling season, June through August, with summer afternoons averaging 82°F. Your air conditioner does its real work in that stretch and sits idle the rest of the year.
Dauphin County has also logged 149 damaging wind events and 20 hail events over the past ten years, one hailstone as large as 1.75 inches. An outdoor condenser sits exposed to that. Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet a federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 82°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 $30 a year to run in Dauphin County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Dauphin County home, from EIA household energy data, Pennsylvania fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Pennsylvania requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration puts a contractor's business on file with the state. Nobody tested their HVAC knowledge to get that number, and the state does not check their work once it is done. Pennsylvania also keeps cities and towns from layering on their own HVAC license, so this registration is the only state-level record that exists on the contractor you hire.
For your install, the protection that matters comes from the permit, not the registration. In most cities and counties, replacing an air conditioner needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the unit is in. That inspection is what checks the work was done right. The registration only tells you the business is on file.
Source: Pennsylvania General Assembly
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not the size of the unit you have now or the square footage of your house alone. A contractor looks at your insulation, your windows, how many floors you have, and which way your house faces before landing on a number. An oversized unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out, so the house feels clammy even at the temperature you set. An undersized one runs constantly all June through August trying to keep up and still falls behind on the hottest afternoons. Ask for the load calculation in writing rather than a guess based on the old system.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases, if the outdoor unit needs replacing, the indoor coil should go with it. Manufacturers match the outdoor condenser and the indoor coil to work at a specific efficiency, and pairing a new condenser with an old coil usually means you lose the efficiency gains you're paying for. It can also void the warranty on the new equipment. There are cases where a mismatched system will still run, but a contractor needs to look at the age and condition of the coil, the refrigerant type, and the manufacturer's specs before telling you whether that makes sense for your house.
- Do HVAC contractors in Harrisburg need a state license to work on my home?
- Pennsylvania requires HVAC contractors to register with the state through the Bureau of Consumer Protection. Ask to see proof of registration before signing a contract. This registration is separate from any local permit requirements, so a contractor may still need to pull a permit for the job depending on what work is being done.