One HVAC American AC & Refrigeration
Air Conditioning Installation
Installing air conditioning costs between $3,350 and $5,912 with most homeowners reporting spending $4,631 on average. This price is typical of installing a new AC unit to your forced air furnace. Other options include single window units or portable units for $234 to $700 or ductless mini splits for $660 to $4,500. Your total cost depends on the type and size of air conditioning system you need.
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Labor Cost to Install Central Air Conditioning
Installation labor costs about $75 per hour or 40% of the total installation cost, so if it takes an average of 18 hours to install your 2-ton AC unit and the bids coming in are for $3,350, about $1,350 of your total cost will be for labor.
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AC BTUs per Square Foot
BTU stands for British Thermal Units, and it’s defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. In air conditioning terms, it’s the amount of heat that an air conditioning system can eliminate from your home at 100% efficiency.
To find the exact BTUs your AC unit will produce, you have to multiply the input BTU by the efficiency % to see the output BTU. Homes typically require 30 to 60 BTUs per square foot.*
New Air Conditioning Unit Load Calculation
Load calculating is referred to as the Manual J calculation and should be performed by the HVAC contractor before giving an installation or unit cost for air conditioning. If your contractor says they know the size of air conditioning unit you need based on experience or on square footage alone, move to another contractor. As with measuring the size of a unit needed based on BTUs, determining the correct size of unit for your home also depends on the unit load—how much cold air it will lose by room.
BTU Calculation for Air Conditioning
Depending on what zone you are located in, the standard rule of thumb is 30 to 40 BTUs per square foot in warm climates, 40 to 50 BTUs in mild climates, and 50 to 60 BTUs in cold climates.
