AC Installation in Naperville, IL
A new air conditioner in Naperville will run from June through August every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers DuPage County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Three cooling months, and hail your outdoor unit has to take
Summer here runs June through August, three months of cooling, with afternoons averaging 82°F. That's not a long season, but the outdoor unit still has to keep up on the hottest days in it.
What it also has to sit through is the weather. DuPage County has logged 58 hail events and 180 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail as large as 2.5 inches. The outdoor unit takes all of that directly, coil and fins exposed to whatever comes through. Any new central air conditioner installed now also has to meet the federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2, so that much is decided before you even pick a model.
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner is on duty
- 82°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 58 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 $20 a year.
Estimates for a typical DuPage County home, from EIA household energy data, Illinois fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
In Illinois, HVAC licensing for homes is left to the cities and towns.
In DuPage County, whether a contractor needs a local license depends on the city or township the house sits in, since Illinois leaves that decision to them rather than setting one rule statewide. Some municipalities register or license HVAC contractors on their own, others don't, so there's no single credential that applies everywhere in the county the way a state license would.
What covers this job instead is the permit process. Installing a new air conditioner in most DuPage County cities and townships needs a permit from the local building office, and the work gets inspected once it's done. That inspection is what checks the installation, not a license, since the state doesn't issue one for this trade.
Source: Illinois General Assembly
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not the square footage of your house. A contractor works out how much heat your house gains in summer based on your windows, insulation, ductwork and layout, then matches the unit to that number. An oversized unit cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity out, so rooms feel clammy even at the temperature you set. Undersized, it runs long stretches on the hottest afternoons and never quite catches up. Ask the contractor to walk you through the calculation rather than quote a size off the old unit's nameplate.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- In most cases you replace both the outdoor condenser and the indoor coil together. They are matched to work as a pair, and a new condenser paired with an old coil often runs poorly or wears out early. The exception is when the coil is young and in good shape and a contractor confirms it will still match the new unit. Since 2023, new central air conditioners have to meet a federal minimum of 13.4 SEER2, and that rating depends on the condenser and coil working as the pair they were tested in.
- Do HVAC contractors in Naperville need a state license to work on my home?
- Illinois does not license HVAC contractors at the state level for home work. That's left to individual cities and towns, so whether a license is required depends on local rules. Check with the city of Naperville on what it requires before hiring, and ask any contractor you're considering to show proof of it.