AC Installation in Spokane, WA
A new air conditioner in Spokane will run from July through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Spokane County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of real heat, and a lot of storms in between
Spokane County only asks a new air conditioner to work hard for about two months, July and August, when afternoons average 80°F. That is a short season, but the unit still has to be sized and installed right to keep up on the hottest days it sees.
The bigger test here is what sits outside the rest of the year. Over the last ten years the area has logged 120 damaging wind events and 8 hail events, with hailstones up to 2.75 inches. An outdoor unit needs to be installed where it is protected from that, not just wired up and left exposed. Any new central air conditioner installed since 2023 also has to meet a federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2, so that baseline is already built into what goes in.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 80°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 8 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 Spokane County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Spokane 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 mean anyone tested the contractor's trade knowledge. There is no exam behind the number, so it confirms who is doing business under that name, not how well they install an air conditioner.
For this job, the check that matters most is local. In most cities and counties, installing an air conditioner needs a permit from the building office and an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is what confirms the unit was installed to code.
Source: Washington State Legislature
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- There is no single right size without a load calculation, and going by square footage alone gets it wrong. A contractor figures this out by looking at how much window area your house has, which way it faces, how it is insulated, and how tall the ceilings are. An oversized unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity down, so the house feels clammy. A contractor can run the calculation and size the equipment to your house rather than guessing from a chart.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases the outdoor unit and the indoor coil need to be matched, so swapping just one and leaving the other in place can cost you efficiency and sometimes voids the warranty on the new part. If your furnace and indoor coil are still in good shape and reasonably new, a contractor may be able to replace only the outdoor condenser and match it to what you have. If the indoor coil is old or was sized for a different unit, replacing both at once is usually the sounder path. A contractor can look at both pieces and tell you which situation you are in.
- Do HVAC contractors in Spokane need a state license to work on my home?
- Washington does not issue a trade license for HVAC work. Contractors are required to register with the state Department of Labor and Industries, which is a business record showing they carry the required bond and insurance, not a test of skill. Beyond that, most cities and counties require a permit for installing an air conditioner, with an inspection once the work is done, so ask whoever you hire whether they are pulling that permit.