AC Installation in Hackensack, NJ
A new air conditioner in Hackensack will run from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Bergen County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of real work, then months of rest
Hackensack asks a lot of an air conditioner in a short window. June through August, with afternoons averaging 84°F, the compressor runs hard and steady, then sits idle the rest of the year. That on-off pattern between seasons is its own kind of stress, apart from the heat itself.
Any new central air conditioner installed since 2023 has to meet a federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2. That is the floor, not a feature, so it is worth asking what the unit going into your house actually delivers above that.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 84°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 42 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 Bergen County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Bergen County home, from EIA household energy data, New Jersey fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
New Jersey requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is held by the contractor, not issued job by job, and it comes from the State Board of Examiners of HVACR Contractors, not the town in Bergen County where you live. New Jersey towns and cities cannot layer on their own HVAC license, so the credential a contractor holds is the same one anywhere in the state.
For this job, the license tells you the contractor was tested and is on record with the state. In most cities and counties, installing a new air conditioner also needs a permit from the local building office and an inspection once the work is done. That inspection checks the installation itself, separate from whatever the license already covers.
Sources: New Jersey Legislature · New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There's no way to size it off square footage alone. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, which weighs your square footage against your insulation, your windows, your ceiling height, and how much shade the house gets. An oversized unit cools the air fast then shuts off before it pulls the moisture out, leaving the house cold and damp. An undersized one runs constantly and still can't keep up on the hottest days. Have a contractor run the numbers on your actual house rather than going by the size of the old unit.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases, if the outdoor unit is failing, the whole system goes in together. The indoor coil and the outdoor condenser are matched to work at a specific capacity, and pairing a new condenser with an old coil usually means the system never hits the efficiency or performance it's rated for. New central air conditioners also have to meet a federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2, and an old coil often can't be paired with that new equipment anyway. A contractor can look at the age and condition of the indoor coil and tell you whether it's a real option to keep it.
- Do HVAC contractors in Hackensack need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. New Jersey requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued through the State Board of Examiners of Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors. Hackensack can't add its own separate license requirement on top of that, since cities and towns in New Jersey aren't allowed to license HVAC work themselves. You'll also need a permit from the local building office for an air conditioner installation, with an inspection once the work is finished.