What size AC for North Palm Beach, FL? 3.5 tons for 2,000 sq ft

What size AC a 2,000 sq ft house in North Palm Beach needs

3.5 tons central AC or heat pump, about 39,300 BTU/hr of load

Here the 20 BTU per square foot chart lands close: 3.5 tons against a load of 3.3 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 611 square feet in this climate. For a single room, size by the room: 19.7 BTU/hr per square foot.

The climate it is sized for

Climate from NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals at W Palm Beach International Airport (9.7 mi away). Jul is the hottest month, averaging a high of 90°F and a low of 76.1°F, with about 74 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 6,544 kWh a year at SEER2 14.3, or roughly $1,002 at Florida's average residential rate of 15.32¢ per kWh. Cooling runs 12 months of the year here.

What drives the load in North Palm Beach

Of the 39,300 BTU/hr, 15,120 comes through walls, roof and windows on a 96°F afternoon (38%), 13,000 is sun on the house (33%), 2,120 is four people and their appliances, and 9,100 is moisture the coil has to wring out of North Palm Beach's summer air (23%).

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 North Palm Beach

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 6,900 BTU/hr; a 600 sq ft open plan kitchen and family room needs about 11,800 BTU/hr.

Month by month in North Palm Beach

Aug alone uses 14% of the year's cooling energy. The unit runs the equivalent of 2,380 hours a year at full output.

North Palm Beach against nearby cities

Of 173 Florida cities here, North Palm Beach has the 150th highest cooling load. The range runs from Miami Shores at 36,500 BTU/hr to Plant City at 44,900.

Where North Palm Beach's weather numbers come from

The nearest NOAA station with full 1991 to 2020 normals is W Palm Beach International Airport, 9.7 miles from the center of North Palm Beach at 12 ft above sea level. That is close enough that the station's summers are North Palm Beach's summers.

11 other cities use the same station and get the same climate inputs. The closest to North Palm Beach: Riviera Beach (3 mi away, 6.8 mi from the station), West Palm Beach (7 mi away, 4.5 mi from the station), Palm Beach Gardens (7 mi away, 12.1 mi from the station), Jupiter (8 mi away, 16.2 mi from the station), Palm Springs (13 mi away, 3.4 mi from the station). North Palm Beach is farther from the station than 7 of them.

The sun over North Palm Beach in late July

At 26.82°N, the noon sun on 21 July stands 83.6° above the horizon over North Palm Beach and the day runs 13 h 27 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.

13,423 people live in North Palm Beach, the 153rd largest of the 173 Florida cities sized on this site. Coordinates used: 26.8203, -80.0569.

North Palm Beach AC sizing questions