AC Installation in Gardnerville Ranchos, NV
A new air conditioner in Gardnerville Ranchos will run from July through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Douglas County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of real heat, and long stretches of nothing
Gardnerville Ranchos only asks for cooling in July and August, with summer afternoons averaging 82°F. That is a short season, and it means a new air conditioner spends most of the year sitting idle, then has to work when those two months hit.
Wind is the bigger factor here. The county has logged 290 damaging wind events over the past ten years, against just one hail event. Whatever gets installed, the outdoor unit needs to be secured and placed with that in mind. Any new central air conditioner also has to meet the federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2, which applies to new installations everywhere now.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 82°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 1 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 $0 a year.
Estimates for a typical Douglas County home, from EIA household energy data, Nevada fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Nevada requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Nevada State Contractors Board tests and licenses HVAC contractors before they take on this kind of work. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any one job, so it stays on file with the state whether the contractor is installing your air conditioner or someone else's across town.
Most cities and counties also require a permit before an air conditioner is installed, and an inspection once the work is done, so if that is the rule where you live, someone from the local building office looks at the finished job too. That check is separate from the state license and covers the installation itself, not the contractor's standing.
Sources: Nevada Legislature · Nevada State Contractors Board
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not the square footage of your house. A contractor looks at your insulation, your windows, how many rooms you have and which way your house faces, then works out how many BTUs you actually need. An oversized unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the moisture out, so rooms feel clammy. An undersized one runs long stretches and still can't keep up on the hottest afternoons. With only July and August to worry about here, getting the size right still matters, it just won't be tested as many months out of the year as it would somewhere hotter.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor coil and outdoor unit are matched and both in good shape, replacing just the outdoor unit can work. But most of the time a contractor will tell you to replace both together, because an old indoor coil paired with a new outdoor unit often doesn't perform the way it should, and the mismatch can shorten the life of the new equipment. New units also have to meet the current 14.3 SEER2 minimum, and an old coil sized for a lower-efficiency system may not match up well with that. A contractor can look at both pieces and tell you whether they're worth pairing or whether it's time to swap the whole system.
- Do HVAC contractors in Gardnerville Ranchos need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Nevada requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued through the Nevada State Contractors Board, and that license covers the contractor rather than any single job. For an air conditioner installation, you'll also need a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is finished. Checking that the contractor holds a current license is worth doing before any work starts on your house.