Revolving Credit Facility (Details)	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Actual net worth for compliance	$ 249,600,000
Minimum net worth required for compliance	$ 175,000,000.0
Ratio of total liability to net worth	0.26
Maximum ratio of total liability to net worth for compliance	2
Borrowings outstanding under revolving credit facility	$ 0	$ 0
Fees associated with unused portion of committed amount	0
Revolving Credit Facility
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Credit facility maximum borrowings	30,000,000.0
Standby letter of credit	800,000.0
Borrowings available under the revolving credit facility	$ 29,200,000.0
Frequency of periodic payment	monthly
Revolving Credit Facility \| LIBOR
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Stated percentage	2.00%

Actual Net Worth for Compliance

No definition available.

Name:	aaon_ActualNetWorthForCompliance
Namespace Prefix:	aaon_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of standby letter of credit outstanding under the revolving credit agreement.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	aaon_LineOfCreditFacilityStandbyLetterOfCredit
Namespace Prefix:	aaon_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Maximum Ratio of Total Liability to Net Worth Required for Compliance

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	aaon_MaximumRatioOfTotalLiabilityToNetWorthRequiredForCompliance
Namespace Prefix:	aaon_
Data Type:	xbrli:pureItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Ratio of Total Liability to Net Worth

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	aaon_RatioOfTotalLiabilityToNetWorth
Namespace Prefix:	aaon_
Data Type:	xbrli:pureItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Contractual interest rate for funds borrowed, under the debt agreement.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentInterestRateStatedPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The carrying value as of the balance sheet date of the current and noncurrent portions of long-term obligations drawn from a line of credit, which is a bank's commitment to make loans up to a specific amount. Examples of items that might be included in the application of this element may consist of letters of credit, standby letters of credit, and revolving credit arrangements, under which borrowings can be made up to a maximum amount as of any point in time conditional on satisfaction of specified terms before, as of and after the date of drawdowns on the line. Includes short-term obligations that would normally be classified as current liabilities but for which (a) postbalance sheet date issuance of a long term obligation to refinance the short term obligation on a long term basis, or (b) the enterprise has entered into a financing agreement that clearly permits the enterprise to refinance the short-term obligation on a long term basis and the following conditions are met (1) the agreement does not expire within 1 year and is not cancelable by the lender except for violation of an objectively determinable provision, (2) no violation exists at the BS date, and (3) the lender has entered into the financing agreement is expected to be financially capable of honoring the agreement.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02(22))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03(16))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6876686&loc=d3e534808-122878

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 944
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.7-03(16))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879938&loc=d3e572229-122910

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCredit
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount of the fee for available but unused credit capacity under the credit facility.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityCommitmentFeeAmount
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of current borrowing capacity under the credit facility considering any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed (for example, borrowings may be limited by the amount of current assets), but without considering any amounts currently outstanding under the facility.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityCurrentBorrowingCapacity
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Description of the frequency of periodic payments, which may be presented in a variety of ways (for example, monthly, quarterly, annually).

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityFrequencyOfPayments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Maximum borrowing capacity under the credit facility without consideration of any current restrictions on the amount that could be borrowed or the amounts currently outstanding under the facility.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LineOfCreditFacilityMaximumBorrowingCapacity
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The lowest amount of net worth (total assets minus total liabilities) required by secondary market investors or state-imposed regulatory mandates.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 948
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6490092&loc=d3e47304-110998

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 948
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (c)(a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6490092&loc=d3e47080-110998

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_MinimumNetWorthRequiredForCompliance
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_CreditFacilityAxis=us-gaap_RevolvingCreditFacilityMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_VariableRateAxis=us-gaap_LondonInterbankOfferedRateLIBORMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: