AC Installation in Southaven, MS
A new air conditioner in Southaven will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers DeSoto County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
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Five months of 90 degree afternoons
From May through September your air conditioner is the thing standing between your house and a Southaven summer. Five months is a long stretch to run a system every day, and afternoons averaging 90°F mean it rarely gets to rest once it starts.
DeSoto County has also seen its share of hail and wind, 30 hail events and 50 damaging wind events over the past ten years. An outdoor unit sits outside through all of that, so it needs to be installed right and built to take some weather. Any new central air conditioner going in today has to meet 14.3 SEER2, the federal efficiency minimum for units built since 2023.
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 30 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 DeSoto County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical DeSoto County home, from EIA household energy data, Mississippi fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Mississippi requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
Mississippi licenses HVAC contractors through the State Board of Contractors. The license is held by the contractor, not issued per job, so it covers this installation the same as any other HVAC work that contractor takes on. That license, and the record the Board keeps behind it, is what stands between you and the work being done.
An air conditioner installation like this one also needs a permit from the local building office in most cities and counties, with an inspection once the work is done. That inspection is separate from the state license. It is the local check that the new system was installed correctly at your address.
Source: Mississippi State Board of Contractors
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size depends on your square footage, your ductwork, how many windows you have, and how much shade and insulation your house gets, so there's no number that applies to every home. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, not a chart based on house size alone. Putting in a unit that's too big cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out, which leaves the house feeling damp. Too small, and it runs constantly trying to keep up, especially on the afternoons here that hit 90 degrees. Have a contractor measure your house and size the system to it.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases you replace both the outdoor unit and the indoor coil together. The two are matched to work at a specific efficiency, and pairing a new outdoor unit with an old coil usually means you lose the efficiency gain you're paying for. It can also void the manufacturer's warranty on the new equipment. A contractor can tell you whether your indoor coil is a match for a new outdoor unit, but replacing both at once is the more common path.
- Do HVAC contractors in Southaven need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Mississippi requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued through the State Board of Contractors. The license is tied to the contractor, not to each individual job, so it covers the work whether it's a repair or a full installation. For an AC installation, you'll also typically need a permit from the local building office, and the work gets inspected once it's done.