AC Installation in Roswell, NM
A new air conditioner in Roswell will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Chaves County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Five months of heat, and hail in between
Roswell asks a new air conditioner to run May through September, with summer afternoons averaging 93°F. That is five straight months of work, and the unit needs to hold up through all of it without falling behind on the hottest days.
Chaves County has also logged 83 hail events and 108 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 3 inches recorded. An outdoor unit sits exposed to that, so the condenser coil and cabinet take the brunt of any storm that comes through. Any new central air conditioner installed today also has to meet the federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 93°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 83 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 Chaves County home, from EIA household energy data, New Mexico fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
New Mexico requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Construction Industries Division tests and licenses HVAC contractors before they can legally do this work in New Mexico. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so it stays on record with the state whether they're installing your air conditioner today or someone else's furnace next month.
For an installation like this, the license is what tells you the contractor is accountable for the work. In most cities and counties, an air conditioner installation also needs a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is done. That inspection checks the installation itself. It is separate from the state license.
Source: New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size depends on your square footage, your insulation, how many windows you have and which way they face, and your ceiling height, so there is no single number that fits every house. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, not by looking at the unit you have now. Going too big is as much a problem as going too small, since an oversized unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity down, so the house feels clammy. With summer afternoons here averaging 93°F, getting this number right matters more than it would somewhere cooler.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases the outdoor unit and the indoor coil need to be matched, so replacing only the outdoor unit can leave you with a system that runs poorly or wears out early. The two parts are built to work at the same capacity and matched to the same refrigerant. If your indoor coil is old, replacing just the outdoor unit may also mean pairing new equipment with a coil that will need its own replacement soon after. A contractor can look at the age and condition of both and tell you whether the coil is worth keeping.
- Do HVAC contractors in Roswell need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. New Mexico requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued through the Construction Industries Division. The license covers the contractor as a business, not each individual job. You will also need a permit from the local building office for the installation, with an inspection once the work is done.