AC Installation in Orlando, FL
A new air conditioner in Orlando will run from March through November every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Orange County will get in touch.
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Nine months of cooling in Orange County
Your air conditioner runs from March through November here, nine months a year. Summer afternoons average 91°F, and that means long, steady runs with little break for the compressor. A system that works this many months needs to be sized and installed right from the start, or it will fall behind on the hottest afternoons and wear out before it should.
Any new central air conditioner installed today has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2. That is the floor, not a guarantee of how it performs here. Whether it holds up through a nine month season depends just as much on whether it is matched to your home and installed correctly.
- 9 months
- March through November, your air conditioner is on duty
- 91°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 47 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 $30 a year to run in Orange County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Orange 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 comes from the state's Construction Industry Licensing Board, and it covers the contractor, not the job in front of you. That board tested the person or company before handing out the license, and it keeps a record of who holds one. It does not sign off on this particular installation.
That sign-off happens locally. An air conditioner installation needs a permit from the building office in most cities and counties here, and an inspection once the work is done. The license tells you the contractor was vetted. The permit and inspection are what actually check this unit, in your house, after it goes in.
Sources: Florida Legislature · Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size depends on your square footage, your insulation, how many windows you have, and which way your house faces, so there is no number that fits every home. A contractor works this out with a load calculation, not a rule of thumb based on square footage alone. Putting in a unit that is too big cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the humidity down, and Orlando needs that humidity handled nine months a year. Too small and it runs constantly through the summer without keeping up on the hottest afternoons. Have a contractor do the load calculation for your specific house.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your system is old enough that the outdoor unit needs replacing, the indoor coil usually needs to go with it. New outdoor units run on a different refrigerant and a different coil design than units installed even ten years ago, and mixing an old indoor coil with a new outdoor unit can leave the system unable to reach its rated efficiency, sometimes voiding the warranty. A matched indoor and outdoor system also holds up better against Orlando's humidity, which puts more strain on a mismatched coil. A contractor can look at your indoor coil's age and condition and tell you whether it's a real option to keep it.
- Do HVAC contractors in Orlando need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Florida requires anyone doing HVAC work to hold a state license, issued by the Construction Industry Licensing Board. Ask to see the license number before work starts, and you can look it up with the board to confirm it's current.