What size AC for Milledgeville, GA? 3.5 tons for 2,000 sq ft

What size AC a 2,000 sq ft house in Milledgeville 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 Milledgeville (0.6 mi away). Jul is the hottest month, averaging a high of 93.2°F and a low of 70.3°F, with about 78 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 3,100 kWh a year at SEER2 14.3, or roughly $480 at Georgia's average residential rate of 15.48¢ per kWh. Cooling runs 7 months of the year here.

What drives the load in Milledgeville

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 Milledgeville'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 Milledgeville

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 Milledgeville

Jul alone uses 25% of the year's cooling energy. The unit runs the equivalent of 1,097 hours a year at full output.

Milledgeville against nearby cities

Of 101 Georgia cities here, Milledgeville has the 18th highest cooling load. The range runs from Cumming at 33,100 BTU/hr to Albany at 44,000.

Where Milledgeville's weather numbers come from

The nearest NOAA station with full 1991 to 2020 normals is Milledgeville, 0.6 miles from the center of Milledgeville at 368 ft above sea level. That is close enough that the station's summers are Milledgeville's summers.

No other city in this set uses Milledgeville, so this sizing is Milledgeville's alone.

The sun over Milledgeville in late July

At 33.09°N, the noon sun on 21 July stands 77.3° above the horizon over Milledgeville and the day runs 13 h 52 min from sunrise to sunset. A lower noon sun puts more of the day's heat on east and west walls than on the roof, which is why shading west glass pays off here. Shorter days give the house a longer night to shed the day's heat.

16,664 people live in Milledgeville, the 72nd largest of the 101 Georgia cities sized on this site. Coordinates used: 33.0879, -83.2406.

Milledgeville AC sizing questions