What size AC for Kerrville, TX? 3.5 tons for 2,000 sq ft

What size AC a 2,000 sq ft house in Kerrville needs

3.5 tons central AC or heat pump, about 40,400 BTU/hr of load

Here the 20 BTU per square foot chart lands close: 3.5 tons against a load of 3.4 tons. This is one of the climates the chart was written for.

If a contractor quotes you more than 3.5 tons for an average 2,000 sq ft house here, ask to see the Manual J load calculation behind it before you sign. That works out to one ton per 594 square feet in this climate. For a single room, size by the room: 20.2 BTU/hr per square foot.

The climate it is sized for

Climate from NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals at Kerrville 3 Nne (2.8 mi away). Aug is the hottest month, averaging a high of 92.8°F and a low of 69.3°F, with about 96 days a year at 90°F or more. That gives a design temperature of 100°F against 75°F inside.

What it costs to run

About 3,211 kWh a year at SEER2 14.3, or roughly $515 at Texas's average residential rate of 16.03¢ per kWh. Cooling runs 7 months of the year here.

What drives the load in Kerrville

Of the 40,400 BTU/hr, 18,000 comes through walls, roof and windows on a 100°F afternoon (45%), 13,000 is sun on the house (32%), 2,120 is four people and their appliances, and 7,300 is moisture the coil has to wring out of Kerrville's summer air (18%).

Heat through the shell is the biggest share here, so insulation and air sealing cut the size you need more than shading would. Sensible heat totals 33,120 BTU/hr before the moisture allowance.

Other house sizes in Kerrville

Single rooms with a window or mini-split unit: a 150 sq ft bedroom needs about 3,000 BTU/hr; a 350 sq ft living room needs about 7,100 BTU/hr; a 600 sq ft open plan kitchen and family room needs about 12,100 BTU/hr.

Month by month in Kerrville

Aug alone uses 23% of the year's cooling energy. The unit runs the equivalent of 1,136 hours a year at full output.

Kerrville against nearby cities

Of 252 Texas cities here, Kerrville has the 244th highest cooling load. The range runs from Levelland at 37,300 BTU/hr to Laredo at 51,500.

Where Kerrville's weather numbers come from

The nearest NOAA station with full 1991 to 2020 normals is Kerrville 3 Nne, 2.8 miles from the center of Kerrville at 1,797 ft above sea level. That is close enough that the station's summers are Kerrville's summers.

No other city in this set uses Kerrville 3 Nne, so this sizing is Kerrville's alone.

The sun over Kerrville in late July

At 30.04°N, the noon sun on 21 July stands 80.4° above the horizon over Kerrville and the day runs 13 h 39 min from sunrise to sunset. With the sun that close to overhead, the roof takes most of the heat at midday and the west wall takes the rest after 3 pm. Shorter days give the house a longer night to shed the day's heat.

25,141 people live in Kerrville, the 130th largest of the 252 Texas cities sized on this site. Coordinates used: 30.0383, -99.1311.

Kerrville AC sizing questions