AC Installation in Moses Lake, WA
A new air conditioner in Moses Lake will run from July through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Grant County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of real heat is all yours has to handle
Moses Lake asks for cooling in July and August, and that's about it. Summer afternoons average 85°F, which is warm enough that a house needs a working AC, but it's not the kind of relentless heat that runs a system into the ground.
Any new central air conditioner installed here has to meet 13.4 SEER2, the federal minimum since 2023. Given how short the season is, a unit sized right for your house will get through it without much strain. The bigger question is just making sure it's set up to handle the storms that come through, since Grant County has seen wind events strong enough to matter over the past decade.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 85°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 1 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 $50 a year to run in Grant County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Grant County home, from EIA household energy data, Washington fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Washington requires contractors to register with the state.
That registration puts the business on file with the Department of Labor and Industries. It does not come with a trade exam, so the state has not tested anyone on how to size or install an air conditioner. The state knows the business exists. It does not vouch for the work.
For this job, what actually gets checked locally is the permit. In most cities and counties in Washington, installing a new air conditioner needs a permit from the local building office, and an inspector looks at the finished work once it's in. That inspection is what stands behind this installation, not the state registration.
Source: Washington State Legislature
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- It depends on your square footage, your insulation, how many windows you have and which way they face, and how many people live there. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, not a chart based on house size alone. Too big a unit cools the air fast but never runs long enough to pull the humidity down, and too small a one runs constantly and still can't keep up on the hottest afternoons.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your furnace or air handler is old enough, replacing just the outdoor unit can cost you more in the long run than doing both together. The indoor and outdoor units are matched to work at a specific efficiency, and pairing a new condenser with an old coil or blower often means you never see the SEER2 rating you paid for. A contractor can check the age and condition of what you have inside and tell you whether it makes sense to keep it or replace it alongside the outdoor unit.
- Do HVAC contractors in Moses Lake need a state license to work on my home?
- Washington requires contractors to register with the Department of Labor and Industries, but that is a business record, not a trade exam. There is no state license test for HVAC work. Most cities and counties still require a permit for installing a new air conditioner, along with an inspection once the work is done, so check that the contractor is pulling that permit.