AC Installation in Burlington, IA
A new air conditioner in Burlington will run from June through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Des Moines County will get in touch.
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Four months of real heat in Burlington
Summer afternoons here average 84°F, and a new air conditioner has to hold that line from June through September, four months straight. That is the stretch that tells you whether the unit was sized and installed right.
Burlington has also logged 34 hail events and 88 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail as large as 2.75 inches. The outdoor unit sits through all of that weather. Any central air conditioner installed today also has to meet a federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2, so that efficiency floor is already part of what goes in.
- 4 months
- June through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 84°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 34 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 Des Moines County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Des Moines County home, from EIA household energy data, Iowa fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Iowa requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The state tested this contractor before handing out that license, and the Iowa Plumbing and Mechanical Systems Board keeps a record of who holds one. The license belongs to the contractor, not to this particular job, so it tells you the business behind the work has met the state's standard, not that this specific installation was checked as it happened.
That piece comes from the county or city instead. In most places, putting in a new air conditioner needs a permit from the local building office, and an inspector looks at the finished work before it's signed off. So the license tells you who is allowed to do the job, and the permit and inspection tell you this particular installation was done right.
Sources: Iowa Legislature · Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing
- 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. It is not a number you can look up from your house's square footage alone. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, a room by room count of what adds heat to your home and what your walls and windows hold back. Bigger is not better here. An oversized unit cools the air fast then shuts off before it pulls the moisture out, so the house feels clammy even at the right temperature.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor coil and outdoor unit were installed together and matched to each other, replacing only the outdoor unit usually means replacing the coil too. The two are matched to work at a specific capacity and airflow, and pairing a new condenser with an old coil can leave you with less cooling and more strain on the compressor. Age matters too. If your indoor unit is old enough that its coil is close to failing on its own, most contractors will tell you to do both now rather than pay for labor a second time later. A contractor can look at what you have and tell you whether the coil is a match for a new outdoor unit.
- Do HVAC contractors in Burlington need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Iowa requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued by the Iowa Plumbing and Mechanical Systems Board. Beyond the license, installing a new air conditioner also needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. Ask to see the license before work starts, and confirm the contractor is pulling the permit rather than skipping it.