AC Installation in Lake Charles, LA
A new air conditioner in Lake Charles will run from April through October every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Calcasieu Parish will get in touch.
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Seven months of cooling in Calcasieu Parish heat
Your air conditioner runs April through October here, seven months of the year. Summer afternoons average 91°F, so the system spends most of that stretch working, not idling. That kind of run time asks more of the compressor and the coil than a short cooling season would.
Calcasieu Parish has also logged 45 hail events and 77 damaging wind events over the past ten years, so the outdoor unit needs to stand up to weather, not just heat. Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet the federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2, and sizing it right for a season this long matters as much as the rating on the label.
- 7 months
- April through October, your air conditioner is on duty
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 45 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 Calcasieu Parish compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Calcasieu Parish home, from EIA household energy data, Louisiana fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Louisiana requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors tests and records HVAC contractors before they can take work in the state. That license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job, so it is on file whether the work is a repair call or a full installation.
For an air conditioner installation, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work. Most cities and parishes in Louisiana also require a permit from the local building office for this kind of job, with an inspection once it's done. That permit and inspection are separate from the state license, and they are what catches a bad installation after the fact, when the licensing board is no longer in the room.
Source: Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size depends on your square footage, your ceiling height, how much shade your house gets, how many windows it has, and how well it holds cooled air. A unit that's too big cools the room fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out, so the house feels clammy. A unit that's too small runs constantly and still can't keep up on a 91°F afternoon. A contractor works this out with a load calculation on your actual house, not a rule of thumb based on square footage alone.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor coil and outdoor unit are different ages or different efficiency ratings, replacing just the outdoor unit often causes problems instead of solving them. The two are matched at the factory to work at a certain capacity and airflow. Pair an old coil with a new condenser and you can lose efficiency, shorten the life of the new unit, or void the warranty. A contractor can check whether your coil is a fair match before deciding, since it depends on the age and condition of what's already there.
- Do HVAC contractors in Lake Charles need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Louisiana requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued through the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors. The license covers the contractor, not the individual job. For an AC installation, you'll also likely need a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done.