AC Installation in Newark, NJ
A new air conditioner in Newark will run from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Essex County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three months of real heat, then it shuts down again
Newark asks for cooling from June through August, and summer afternoons average 84°F. That is a short season compared to some places, but the unit still has to keep up on the hottest days it gets, then sit idle the rest of the year.
A new central air conditioner installed here has to meet a federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2. That is the baseline for any new unit, not an upgrade you have to ask for.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 84°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 2 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 Essex County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Essex 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 state board tests contractors before they license them and keeps that license on file, and it belongs to the contractor, not to any single job they take on. Because the rule sits at the state level, no town or city in Essex County can add its own license requirement on top of it. Wherever in New Jersey the contractor is based, the license means the same thing.
The license covers who is allowed to do the work, not the installation itself. In most cities and counties, putting in a new air conditioner needs a permit from the local building office, and an inspection once the unit is in. That inspection is what confirms this job was done right, separate from anything the state license already checked.
Sources: New Jersey Legislature · New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There is no size you can pick from a chart. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, which looks at your square footage, your windows, your insulation, and how many rooms need to stay cool. Putting in a unit that is too big cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out, so the house feels clammy. Too small and it runs constantly on the 84°F afternoons here and still cannot keep up. The right size comes from that calculation, not from the size of the unit you had before.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases it is better to 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 outdoor unit with an old coil usually means you lose the efficiency you are paying for, and can shorten the life of the new equipment. A contractor can check the age and condition of your coil and tell you whether it is a candidate to keep. New systems installed today also have to meet the federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2, which factors into the decision.
- Do HVAC contractors in Newark 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. The license belongs to the contractor, not to each individual job, and no city or town in New Jersey can add its own separate licensing requirement on top of that. Separately, installing an air conditioner in Newark still needs a permit from the local building office, along with an inspection once the work is done.