AC and Furnace Replacement Cost in San Antonio
Estimate for your San Antonio home
AC and Furnace Replacement · San Antonio
$11,404 to $17,818
- Size your house needsTons is cooling capacity, not weight. One ton covers roughly 600 sq ft in most of Texas.
- 3.5 tons
- Efficiency ratingSEER2 is the efficiency rating. A higher number means a lower power bill. 14.3 is the legal minimum in Texas.
- 14.3 SEER2
- Cooling savings, per year
- $303
- 3.5 ton ac and furnace replacement for roughly 2,000 sq ft in San Antonio
- 14.3 SEER2, the federal minimum for Texas
This is an estimate, not a quote. Correct sizing comes from a Manual J load calculation that accounts for your insulation, windows and orientation. Ask any contractor for theirs in writing.
The short answer
AC and Furnace Replacement in San Antonio usually runs
What you would save in San Antonio
A new system at 14.3 SEER2 would cut the cooling bill on this house by about $303 a year, roughly $3,032 over ten years. Pick a higher efficiency in the calculator and the figure moves with it, as does any rebate that efficiency unlocks.
- 3.5 tons running about 2,000 full-load hours a year in San Antonio
- Current system about 11.0 SEER after 15 years of wear, new system 14.3 SEER2
- Electricity at 15 cents per kWh
What drives the price here
Your system runs far more than the national average
This is the single biggest reason national cost guides mislead San Antonio homeowners. Cooling season here runs most of the year, and a system accumulates compressor hours at a pace that national lifespan figures were never built around. The practical effect is that equipment reaching its mid teens in San Antonio is closer to the end of its usable life than the same equipment would be in a milder climate, and the repair-versus-replace math tips earlier as a result.
Sizing is a calculation, not a rule of thumb
San Antonio sits in climate zone 2A, hot enough that undersizing shows up immediately in August and humid enough that oversizing shows up as a house that feels cool and damp. Correct sizing comes from a Manual J load calculation accounting for insulation, window area and orientation, not from square footage alone. Ask for it in writing.
CPS Energy is city owned, which works in your favor
San Antonio is served by CPS Energy, a municipally owned utility. That matters more than it sounds like it should. You deal with one entity for power and for incentives, rebates are claimed directly rather than routed through a retail electricity provider, and the programs tend to be more generous than what the deregulated parts of Texas offer. It also means the rebate rules here are genuinely local and will not match anything you read about Dallas or Houston.
When the equipment in this market was installed
Heavy build-out on the north and far west sides through the 1990s and 2000s, which puts a large share of original systems at or past end of life right now. That matters for a practical reason: systems installed with a house tend to fail on a similar schedule across a neighborhood, so an unusually busy season for contractors in one part of San Antonio is often a whole subdivision reaching end of life at once. It also affects wait times, since the same weeks are busy for everyone.
Brands, and what the badge changes
For a whole system the brand matters less than the installer, and less than most people expect. At the same SEER2, a value-tier and a mainline unit deliver the same cooling; what you are paying for at the higher tiers is quieter, variable-speed equipment, a longer feature list and a denser dealer network. The pairs below are the same equipment under two names.
Goodman · also sold as Amana
The volume leader in Texas. Plain equipment, parts on every supply house shelf, and a price that reflects both.
Built at the Daikin Texas Technology Park in Waller, outside Houston, one of the largest HVAC plants in North America.
Rheem · also sold as Ruud
Rheem and Ruud are the same equipment with different badges. A mid-market workhorse that installers rarely complain about.
York · also sold as Coleman, Luxaire
Three badges on one product line, priced to compete with Goodman. Dealer quality varies more than the equipment does.
Carrier · also sold as Bryant
Bryant is Carrier equipment sold through a different dealer network, usually for less. Ask a Carrier dealer whether they also carry Bryant.
Trane · also sold as American Standard
American Standard is the same equipment as Trane with a different badge and, very often, a lower quote.
Residential equipment is built in Tyler, in East Texas.
Lennox
Efficient top-end models and proprietary parts, which can mean waiting on the brand rather than the local supply house when something fails.
Headquartered in Richardson, north of Dallas.
- Keep the furnace and the coil on the same brand. Mixed-brand stacks work, but warranty claims get argued over which side failed.
- In most of Texas an 80% AFUE furnace is the right buy: the heating season is too short to pay back the condensing models that make sense up north. El Paso and North Texas are the exceptions worth running the numbers on.
- Register the warranty within the first two or three months, or the parts coverage on most brands drops from ten years to five.
How to check a quote before you sign
- Verify the license. Air conditioning contractors in Texas are licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Ask for the ACR license number and confirm it is active and held by the company, not borrowed from someone who no longer works there.
- Ask for the Manual J. In writing. If the tonnage came from square footage alone, the sizing is a guess.
- Confirm the permit is included in the price and pulled by the contractor.
- Check the coil and condenser are a matched set. Replacing only the outdoor unit leaves a mismatched system that underperforms its rating and can void the warranty.
- Get the model numbers and confirm the efficiency rating yourself rather than taking the figure on the proposal at face value.
- Get more than one quote. Spread on this work is wide, and the second quote is the cheapest information you will ever buy.
Common questions
- How much does ac and furnace replacement cost in San Antonio?
- Most San Antonio homeowners pay $11,404 to $17,818 for ac and furnace replacement. Replacing cooling and heating equipment at the same time, which is usually cheaper than doing them two years apart.
- How long should this last in San Antonio?
- 15 to 20 years is the usual range, and San Antonio systems land in the lower half of it because equipment here runs far more hours per year than the national average.
- Do I need a permit for this work?
- Permit rules are set by the local jurisdiction rather than the state, so they differ across Texas. We publish the rule for San Antonio on this page once we have confirmed it directly with the permitting authority.
Other work in San Antonio
- AC Replacement$8,960 to $14,000
- Heat Pump Installation$10,996 to $17,182
- AC Compressor Replacement$1,333 to $3,075
- Evaporator Coil Replacement$1,128 to $2,665
- Condenser Replacement$2,563 to $6,150
- Air Handler Replacement$2,050 to $5,125
- Furnace Replacement$2,870 to $7,175
- Ductwork Replacement$3,075 to $9,225
Repairs and parts in San Antonio
- AC Capacitor Replacement$150 to $450
- Blower Motor Replacement$450 to $1,200
- Condenser Fan Motor Replacement$350 to $900
- Refrigerant Recharge$250 to $1,500
- Expansion Valve Replacement$400 to $1,100
- Thermostat Replacement$150 to $600