AC Installation and Replacement in Ypsilanti and Southeast Michigan

Most of the air conditioners we replace in Washtenaw and western Wayne County are between 15 and 22 years old, use R-22 refrigerant, and have been limping along on a weak capacitor and a slow coil leak for two or three summers. At some point the math flips: a compressor or a coil on a unit that old costs a large share of what a new condenser and coil cost, and the new equipment pulls roughly half the electricity. Our job is to tell you plainly which side of that line you are on. Al has talked a fair number of people out of a replacement they were ready to buy, and our reviews say so. When a new system is the right call, we design it correctly and install it ourselves.

Correct starts with sizing. Southeast Michigan is a humidity climate more than a heat climate, with dew points in the upper 60s for most of July and August, and an oversized air conditioner is the single most common mistake we see in 1990s and 2000s subdivisions around Canton, Pittsfield and Saline. A three-ton unit on a house that needs two and a half satisfies the thermostat in eight minutes, shuts off, and never runs long enough to wring moisture out of the air. The house reads 72 and feels clammy. We run a Manual J load calculation using your actual square footage, window area and orientation, insulation and duct location, and we size to that number rather than to whatever was hanging on the house before.

Then there is the matching. A new outdoor condenser needs an indoor evaporator coil that is rated for it and a blower that can move the right airflow across it, which in most of our installs means a new coil on top of the existing furnace and sometimes a blower adjustment or a furnace replacement at the same time. The refrigerant landscape changed in 2025: new equipment now ships with R-454B instead of R-410A, which runs at similar pressures but requires different leak detection, different line-set handling and a system that was built for it. We install R-454B systems to the manufacturer's spec, pull a deep vacuum on the line set, weigh in the charge, and verify subcooling on a running system rather than topping it off by feel.

The install itself is where corners get cut by high-volume shops, and it is where we are slow on purpose. A level composite pad, a properly sized line set that is not just the old one flushed and reused when it is undersized, a new filter drier, a new disconnect and whip when the old ones are sun-rotted, correct breaker size per the nameplate, a condensate drain with a float switch and a trap, and a thermostat that actually matches the equipment's staging. We pull the mechanical permit through the city or township and schedule the inspection. Every system is tested across a full cycle before we leave, and you get the model and serial numbers, the registered warranty, and a straight explanation of how to keep it alive.

Estimates for a new air conditioner are free and carry no obligation. We will walk the house, measure, look at the ductwork and the electrical panel, and put a flat-rate price in writing that includes permit, materials, labor, haul-away of the old equipment and startup. If you want a second opinion on a quote someone else gave you, we are glad to be that second opinion. DTE Energy runs rebates on qualifying high-efficiency central air, and the federal 25C tax credit applies to certain SEER2 tiers, so we will tell you which equipment qualifies and hand you the paperwork.