AC Installation in Kissimmee, FL
A new air conditioner in Kissimmee will run from February through December every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Osceola County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eleven months of cooling asks a lot of a new system
Kissimmee only gets one month off. From February through December, your air conditioner is the thing standing between your house and a Florida afternoon that averages 91°F. That kind of run time means a new system needs to hold up to near constant cycling, not just the occasional hot week.
Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2. That is the floor, not a feature, so it is worth knowing what you are getting beyond it. Osceola County has also logged 17 hail events and 14 damaging wind events over the past ten years, with hail up to 1.75 inches. The outdoor unit sits outside through all of it, so how it is installed and protected matters as much as the equipment itself.
- 11 months
- February through December, your air conditioner is on duty
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 17 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 13.4 SEER2
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A higher-efficiency unit would save about $40 a year to run in Osceola County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Osceola County home, from EIA household energy data, Florida fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Florida requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The license is issued by the Construction Industry Licensing Board, and it covers the contractor, not the job. The state tested this person and keeps a record of them, but that license does not describe what happens at your house in Osceola County. It tells you who you hired, not what they do once they are there.
For this job, that record is what stands behind the installer. What checks the actual work is the permit. In most cities and counties, installing an air conditioner needs a permit from the local building office, with an inspection once the work is done. That inspection looks at the unit itself, how it is wired and set in place, separate from anything the license already says about the contractor.
Sources: Florida Legislature · Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- It depends on your home's square footage, insulation, window placement, and layout, not just a rule of thumb. A unit that's too big cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the moisture out, so the house feels damp. A unit that's too small runs constantly and still can't keep up on a 91°F afternoon, which is normal here from February through December. A contractor works this out with a load calculation on your actual house, not a guess based on square footage alone.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If the indoor and outdoor units are original to each other and one is failing, replacing just the outdoor unit often causes problems down the road. The two are matched to work together, and pairing an old indoor coil with a new outdoor unit can hurt efficiency and shorten the life of both. Age matters too. If the indoor unit is old enough that it will likely fail soon anyway, a contractor can tell you whether it makes more sense to replace both now. New units sold today have to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2, so a full replacement also means a jump in efficiency over what you have now.
- Do HVAC contractors in Kissimmee need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Florida requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued by the Construction Industry Licensing Board. Ask to see it before work starts, and you can also verify it with the board directly.