AC Installation in Lake Havasu City, AZ
A new air conditioner in Lake Havasu City will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Mohave County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
What Lake Havasu City asks of a new air conditioner
Your air conditioner runs five months straight here, May through September, with summer afternoons averaging 96°F. It doesn't get a break to recover overnight. A unit sized and installed right has to hold that load day after day without falling behind.
Mohave County has also logged 149 damaging wind events and 22 hail events over the past ten years, hail up to 1.75 inches at its largest. The outdoor unit sits outside through all of that, so how it's anchored and where it's placed matters. 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
- 96°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 22 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 Mohave County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Mohave County home, from EIA household energy data, Arizona fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Arizona requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Registrar of Contractors licenses the contractor, not the job itself. That means the testing and the record are tied to the business you hire, and that record carries from one installation to the next rather than being issued fresh each time.
For an air conditioner installation, that license is what stands behind the person doing the work. On top of that, most cities and counties in Arizona require a permit for a job like this, along with an inspection once it's done, so the installation gets a second look from the local building office beyond what the state license covers.
Sources: Arizona State Legislature · Arizona Registrar of Contractors
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not a rule of thumb based on square footage. A contractor looks at your insulation, your windows, how many walls face the afternoon sun, and your duct layout to figure the tonnage. This matters more here than in a lot of places because your system has to hold up against 96°F afternoons for five months straight, May through September. Too big a unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the moisture out, and too small a unit runs nonstop and still can't keep up on the hottest days.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases you replace both the outdoor unit and the indoor coil together. The coil and the condenser are matched to work at a specific efficiency, and pairing a new condenser with an old coil usually means the system never reaches the rating it's supposed to. It can also void the manufacturer's warranty on the new equipment. A contractor can tell you the age and condition of your coil and whether it's worth keeping.
- Do HVAC contractors in Lake Havasu City need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Arizona requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued by the Registrar of Contractors. Before hiring anyone, ask for their license number and check it against the Registrar's records. This protects you if the work fails inspection or if something goes wrong after the job is done.