AC Installation in St. Paul, MN
A new air conditioner in St. Paul will run from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Ramsey County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of real heat, and hail before that
Ramsey County only asks for cooling three months a year, June through August, with summer afternoons averaging 80°F. That is a short season, but the unit still has to be sized and installed right to keep up on the hot afternoons in the middle of it.
The bigger risk here is what happens to the unit sitting outside the rest of the year. The last ten years brought 64 hail events and 42 damaging wind events to the area, with hail up to 3 inches across. A condenser's coil and fins sit exposed to that, so the install matters as much as the equipment. Any new central air conditioner going in now also has to meet the federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 80°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 64 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 Ramsey County home, from EIA household energy data, Minnesota fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Minnesota has no state license for HVAC contractors.
Minnesota has no state exam, no state license number, and no state list to check a contractor against for this work. In Ramsey County, whatever protection exists comes from the city or county building office rather than from the state.
For an air conditioner installation, that means the permit and inspection are the check on the work. Most cities and counties in Minnesota require a permit before the job starts and an inspection once it's done, so someone from the local building office looks at the installation rather than a state licensing board.
Source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There's no single number that works for every house. Sizing depends on your square footage, how much insulation you have, how many windows face the sun, and how your ductwork is laid out. A unit that's too big cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out, so the house feels clammy. A contractor will do a load calculation on your actual house and size the equipment to that, not to a rule of thumb.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your furnace or air handler is old, replacing just the outdoor unit can cause problems. The indoor and outdoor parts are matched to work together, and pairing new equipment with an old coil often means you lose efficiency or void the warranty on the new unit. A contractor can check the age and condition of what's inside and tell you whether it can pair with new outdoor equipment or whether both need to go at once.
- Do HVAC contractors in St. Paul need a state license to work on my home?
- No. Minnesota has no state license or registration for HVAC contractors doing home work. That doesn't mean there's no paperwork on this job. Installing a new air conditioner in most cities and counties still needs a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is done, so ask whoever you hire how they handle that.