What’s the Cost to Install a Ductless AC in Texas?

When you’re considering any work on your home, the first thing you’re going to want to know is what it’s going to cost you. If you’re considering installing a ductless AC in Texas, it could cost anywhere from $2,297 to $8,500, but the average cost is about $5,291.

Before you let cost alone decide for you, you should know that ductless ACs, sometimes called “mini-splits,” have many benefits. They can significantly cut energy costs because they allow homeowners to control the temperature of individual rooms. That way, you’re not wasting money cooling empty spaces in your home.

Depending on your home situation, the cost to install a ductless AC could be at the low or high end of the range. The vast cost range is due to a variety of factors, including:

• How many rooms will be cooled
• The efficiency of your ductless AC system
• The size of your ductless AC system
• Which contractor you hire

We’ll explain each of these factors in more detail below.

Want to learn more about ductless AC installations? Call (210) 293-6700 or schedule a free estimate with Jon Wayne today for a prompt, professional opinion on your AC project.

You’ll need an individual unit for each room or zone you want to cool in your home. The more rooms you want to be cooled by your AC, the greater the cost is going to be.

Ductless ACs consist of both indoor and outdoor units. The outdoor unit contains the condenser and compressor, which cool the air. The indoor unit then acts as the air handling unit, pumping out cooled air into your home. Depending on the brand of ductless AC system you choose, your outdoor unit could connect to up to 8 indoor units so that you could cool up to 8 rooms in your house at a time with one outdoor unit.

Each indoor or outdoor unit you add to your ductless AC system will come with an additional cost. So depending on the size of the space you want to cool, a ductless AC could be higher in price (if you’re going to cool a lot of rooms) or lower in price (if you want to cool a small area).

Purchasing a higher-efficiency ductless AC system will cost you more upfront but will result in lower monthly energy bills.

Efficiency is measured by the unit’s SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) rating. A higher SEER rating means the unit is more efficient. In Texas, the minimum federal SEER rating is 14; we recommend purchasing a unit with a SEER rating of at least 16 to maximize your cost savings.

When we talk about the size of your ductless AC system, we’re not talking about the size of your home that you want to be cooled. We’re talking about the capacity of your AC system to cool it. The more heat your ductless AC system can move out of your home per hour—measured in British Thermal Units (or BTUs)—the more expensive the ductless AC system is going to be.

When discussing ACs, a BTU is the amount of energy it takes to lower the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. Each ductless AC system will come with a BTU rating. The number of BTUs you will need depends on many factors, including the size of your home (including the number of doors and windows your home contains), the quality of your insulation, and the climate where you live.

You can schedule service with a Jon Wayne HVAC professional to help you determine the amount of BTUs it will take to adequately cool your home, but based on the size of your home alone, a reasonable estimate would be 20 BTUs per square foot of space you want to be cooled. If you are cooling a large room, therefore, you’ll need a ductless AC system with a higher BTU rating, resulting in a higher cost.

The more experienced your contractor is, the greater the cost to install the ductless AC will be.

Although the installation cost may be higher with an experienced contractor, an experienced contractor should complete the job correctly the first time around, saving you money in repeat work. A professional Texas contractor will also accurately determine where to install the indoor units for your ductless AC. If the indoor units are placed in suboptimal locations, your AC can start short-cycling instead of running complete cooling cycles, wasting energy and money.

Additionally, the contractor you choose might have different incentives, such as warranties or sales, impacting the cost. For example, at Jon Wayne, we offer a 10-year parts and labor warranty on all ductless AC installations, as well as free estimates and flexible payment plans. We also offer 1 free year of our 5-Star Service Club membership and triple-check our installs to make sure we get the job done right the first time.

Our trained HVAC professionals can answer any questions you may have. Give us a call today!