What size AC for Lake City, FL? 3.5 tons for 2,000 sq ft

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

3.5 tons central AC or heat pump, about 36,900 BTU/hr of load

Here the 20 BTU per square foot chart lands close: 3.5 tons against a load of 3.1 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 651 square feet in this climate. For a single room, size by the room: 18.4 BTU/hr per square foot.

The climate it is sized for

Climate from NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals at Lake City 2 E (2.9 mi away). Jul is the hottest month, averaging a high of 89.7°F and a low of 70.3°F, with about 83 days a year at 90°F or more. That gives a design temperature of 96°F against 75°F inside.

What it costs to run

About 3,418 kWh a year at SEER2 14.3, or roughly $524 at Florida's average residential rate of 15.32¢ per kWh. Cooling runs 7 months of the year here.

What drives the load in Lake City

Of the 36,900 BTU/hr, 15,120 comes through walls, roof and windows on a 96°F afternoon (41%), 13,000 is sun on the house (35%), 2,120 is four people and their appliances, and 6,700 is moisture the coil has to wring out of Lake City'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 30,240 BTU/hr before the moisture allowance.

Other house sizes in Lake City

Single rooms with a window or mini-split unit: a 150 sq ft bedroom needs about 2,800 BTU/hr; a 350 sq ft living room needs about 6,400 BTU/hr; a 600 sq ft open plan kitchen and family room needs about 11,000 BTU/hr.

Month by month in Lake City

Jul alone uses 20% of the year's cooling energy. The unit runs the equivalent of 1,325 hours a year at full output.

Lake City against nearby cities

Of 173 Florida cities here, Lake City has the 168th highest cooling load. The range runs from Miami Shores at 36,500 BTU/hr to Plant City at 44,900.

Where Lake City's weather numbers come from

The nearest NOAA station with full 1991 to 2020 normals is Lake City 2 E, 2.9 miles from the center of Lake City at 195 ft above sea level. That is close enough that the station's summers are Lake City's summers.

No other city in this set uses Lake City 2 E, so this sizing is Lake City's alone.

The sun over Lake City in late July

At 30.19°N, the noon sun on 21 July stands 80.2° above the horizon over Lake City and the day runs 13 h 40 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.

12,783 people live in Lake City, the 158th largest of the 173 Florida cities sized on this site. Coordinates used: 30.1886, -82.6422.

Lake City AC sizing questions