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Polar Express HVAC & Refrigeration

Air Conditioning

A new system sized for your house, not for the one next door.

Polar Express provides AC installation for homes across the San Antonio metro, with 24/7 emergency dispatch and same-day service on most repair calls. One flat-rate price is approved in writing before work begins, after a load calculation, duct review, and free in-home estimate. TDLR license TACLA00127982C.

Two homes on the same street rarely need the same tonnage. We measure the load, explain the efficiency math in Texas terms, and put the whole scope in writing.

Call 24/7 · (210) 376-0781Book Service
  • Licensed TACLA00127982C
  • Since 2023
  • 4.9 Google rating

Get a free estimate

Tell us what's going on. We'll call you back, usually within 15 minutes during business hours.

No obligation. No high-pressure sales. We'll text you a confirmation.

Replacing an air conditioner is the largest purchase most San Antonio homeowners make on the house that is not the roof, and it is the one where the installation matters more than the badge on the equipment. A correctly matched system, charged by weight, with a sealed plenum and verified airflow, will quietly outlast a more expensive system that somebody rushed. Polar Express replaces residential cooling systems across the metro, and the slow part comes first: the load calculation, a walk through your ductwork and electrical, and a straight explanation of what the efficiency rating buys in this climate. Then you get the equipment, the scope, the warranty terms, and one total in writing before anything is ordered. Financing options are available, and the person doing your estimate can go through them with you.

What we handle

AC Installation & Replacement covers more than one failure.

The complaint that gets called in is rarely the whole job. These are the things a technician is actually looking at on this equipment.

  • Load calculation and right-sizing

    Square footage is where sizing starts, not where it ends. Window area, insulation, ceiling height, orientation, and duct leakage all decide the tonnage, and oversizing is the most common error in this trade.

  • Matched equipment selection

    Outdoor unit, indoor coil, and air handler or furnace chosen as one set. A mismatched pairing gives up the efficiency it was rated for and can void the manufacturer coverage on the parts that cost the most.

  • Ductwork, returns, and static pressure

    New equipment inherits the old duct system's problems. Undersized returns, crushed flex, and leaks into a hot attic get found and priced before install day rather than discovered afterward.

  • Efficiency ratings in Texas terms

    SEER2, EER2, and variable-speed equipment explained against how a humid climate actually runs a system, so you can see where the next efficiency tier stops paying you back.

  • Removal, installation, and startup

    Old equipment pulled and hauled off, the line set evaluated or replaced, a charge weighed in rather than guessed at, and the system commissioned instead of simply switched on.

  • Permits, registration, and warranty

    The permit pulled where the jurisdiction requires one, the equipment registered so the full factory warranty applies, and the paperwork handed to you rather than filed at our office.

Signs and causes

What you are seeing, and what usually causes it.

Read these before you call. Knowing which one matches gets the right parts on the truck, and a couple of them are worth acting on in the next ten minutes.

  • The repair quote is a real fraction of a new system

    No single percentage settles this, but a large repair on a system already past ten years, with more wear behind it than ahead of it, rarely returns the money. We put the repair price and the replacement price side by side so you can look at the comparison instead of hearing it described.

  • The system still runs on R-22

    R-22 has not been produced or imported in the United States since 2020, so a leak on one of those systems is served only by reclaimed supply at whatever that costs this month. The equipment itself still works fine. What changed is the economics of keeping it charged.

  • Some rooms never catch up

    A house with one room five degrees off the rest has a distribution problem far more often than a capacity problem, and dropping a bigger unit on it makes the humidity worse without fixing the room. That is a duct and return conversation, and it belongs in the design rather than on the invoice.

  • The house is cold and clammy at the same time

    Oversized equipment satisfies the thermostat quickly, shuts off, and never runs long enough to wring water out of the air. In a humid subtropical climate that is not a matter of preference, it is a sizing error, and it is exactly why a replacement gets measured instead of matched to the old nameplate.

  • This is the third summer in a row with a service call

    One repair is maintenance. A pattern is a budget item. Planning a replacement in the shoulder season, while nothing is broken and nobody is making the decision during a 100 degree afternoon, is worth real money compared with replacing it in an emergency.

What it costs

You approve the price before the work starts.

An installed price depends entirely on the house, so there is no honest one to publish here. What we do instead is come out, measure, look at the ductwork and the electrical, ask how long you plan to stay in the home, and then hand you a written quote carrying the equipment model numbers, the full scope of work, the warranty terms, and one total that holds. Financing options are available and we will walk through them at the estimate, but no monthly payment figure appears on this page, because a payment number without the term, the rate, and the lender's own disclosure attached is not information anybody can use. We also give a free second opinion on somebody else's replacement quote.

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What moves the number

  • The tonnage the load calculation calls for, which is not always the tonnage sitting there now
  • Efficiency tier and equipment type, from a single-stage system up to variable speed
  • Whether the ductwork, plenum, and returns need work to support the new system
  • Electrical service, the disconnect, and whether the circuit is sized for the equipment
  • Where the indoor unit lives, since an attic changeout is more work than a hall closet
  • Permit requirements in your jurisdiction and any code updates the change triggers

How the job runs

What happens between your call and a working system.

  1. Step 1

    In-home estimate, never a phone quote

    Nobody can size a system honestly over the phone. We walk the house, measure, look in the attic, count the returns, and ask the questions that decide the equipment, and that visit costs you nothing.

  2. Step 2

    Manual J, in plain language

    The industry calls it a load calculation. It adds up how much heat your specific house gains on a design day through the walls, the windows, the roof, and the ducts, then converts that into tonnage. It is the difference between engineering a system and copying the sticker off the old one.

  3. Step 3

    Written proposal with real options

    Usually two or three, from a solid baseline system up through higher efficiency and variable-speed equipment, with the honest trade-offs written next to each one instead of a good, better, best sales page.

  4. Step 4

    Install day and commissioning

    Floors covered, old equipment hauled off, new system set, charge weighed in, airflow verified, thermostat configured, and a walkthrough at the end. The commissioning readings go on your paperwork so the next technician has a baseline to work against.

Questions

Straight answers, before you call.

Still not covered here? The person who answers the phone can usually settle it in a sentence, day or night.

Call (210) 376-0781

The right size comes out of a load calculation, which the industry calls Manual J: the heat your particular house gains on a hot design day through its walls, windows, roof, and ductwork, converted into tonnage. It is not square footage run through a rule of thumb, and it is frequently not the size currently installed. Homes that have been re-roofed, re-windowed, or had attic insulation added often need less than they once did.

SEER2 is the current federal cooling efficiency rating, measured under a test procedure that accounts for realistic duct resistance, which is why a SEER2 figure reads lower than the old SEER figure on comparable equipment. Texas falls in the southern efficiency region, where the legal minimum is set higher than in northern states. A long cooling season pays back efficiency faster than a short one does, and there is still a point on every home where the next tier stops earning its price. We show you where that point lands for yours.

A straight changeout, where the new equipment matches what is already there and the ductwork is sound, is normally a one-day job. Add a coil relocation, duct modifications, an electrical upgrade, or a change from one equipment type to another and it becomes two. You find out which one your house is before install day, so nobody is guessing about spending a night without cooling.

Most homeowners either pay outright or finance the purchase. Financing options are available through Polar Express, and we go through what is on the table at the estimate, including what the approval step involves. We deliberately do not advertise a monthly figure anywhere on this site, because a payment amount means nothing without the term, the rate, and the lender's own disclosure attached to it.

Usually yes, and how much depends on what is being replaced and how the household runs. Moving off an aging, undercharged, low-efficiency system onto a properly sized modern one is a genuine reduction; moving from a healthy ten-year-old unit to the highest available tier is a much smaller one. CPS Energy has run residential efficiency rebate programs, and we will point you at whatever is current rather than quote an amount here, because those programs change.

Polar Express provides one written flat-rate price for AC installation in San Antonio, approved before equipment is ordered or work begins. The total depends on the load-calculated system size, the selected efficiency and staging, and any duct, return, or electrical corrections the house needs. A free in-home replacement estimate establishes that scope.

Polar Express works with all major air conditioner brands in San Antonio and selects matched outdoor units, indoor coils, and air handlers or furnaces for the home. Brand follows the load calculation, duct conditions, efficiency target, and available warranty support. Qualifying installations may also have financing options, explained with the written proposal.

Related services

The work that usually comes with this one.

Nearby

We run this service across the San Antonio metro. These are three of the areas we cover, and the full list lives on the service areas page.

One call, day or night.

Licensed, locally owned, and answering the phone around the clock. You get the diagnosis in plain language and the price before the work starts.

Call 24/7 · (210) 376-0781Book Service