AC Installation in Manitowoc, WI
A new air conditioner in Manitowoc will run from July through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Manitowoc County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Two months of real heat, then months of nothing
Manitowoc County only asks an air conditioner to work July and August, with afternoons averaging 77°F. That is a short season, but the unit still needs to be sized and installed right, because it won't get much chance to ease into the work before the next hot stretch hits.
Hail and wind are the bigger risk to an outdoor unit sitting through the rest of the year. The county has logged 24 hail events and 52 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 1.75 inches. A new central air conditioner installed today has to meet a federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2, so whatever goes in will already be built to that standard.
- 2 months
- July through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 77°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 24 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
Going above the federal minimum saves little here, about $10 a year.
Estimates for a typical Manitowoc County home, from EIA household energy data, Wisconsin fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Wisconsin requires contractors to register with the state.
Registration puts a contractor's business on file with the Department of Safety and Professional Services. There is no trade exam behind it. It tells you the business is on record, not that the state has judged the person doing your install. Counties and cities in Wisconsin cannot add their own HVAC license on top of this, so the registration is the same wherever in Manitowoc County you are.
Since there is no license behind this job, the real check on it is local. Installing an air conditioner in most cities and counties needs a permit from the local building office. The work gets inspected once it's done. That inspection is what confirms the unit was put in correctly, not the state registration.
Sources: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau · Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- A contractor needs to measure your house before that number means anything. Square footage matters, but so does how much insulation you have, which way your windows face, and how many rooms are upstairs versus down. Putting in a unit that's too big cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the moisture out, so the house feels damp. Too small and it runs constantly on the hot afternoons and still can't keep up. A contractor will walk the house and run the numbers rather than go off square footage alone.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor coil and outdoor unit are different ages or different efficiency levels, replacing just the outdoor unit usually isn't a good match. The coil and the compressor are matched to work together, and pairing an old coil with a new condenser can mean the system never runs at the efficiency it's rated for. If both are old, or if the coil is likely to fail soon after, it's often worth doing both at once rather than paying for labor twice. A contractor can check the age and condition of both pieces and tell you which case you're in.
- Do HVAC contractors in Manitowoc need a state license to work on my home?
- Wisconsin requires HVAC contractors to register with the state through the Department of Safety and Professional Services. This isn't the same as a local permit, it's a state-level registration that any contractor working on your home should be able to show you. Ask to see it before work starts.