South Carolina HVAC Match
Aerial view of a residential air conditioning condenser unit mounted on a concrete pad next to a house with vinyl siding and a sliding glass door.

AC Installation in Florence, SC

A new air conditioner in Florence will run from May through September every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Florence County will get in touch.

Tell us about the job

It takes about a minute.

Step 1 of 3: Equipment
Overhead view of an air conditioning condenser unit on a concrete pad next to a house with asphalt shingle roofing and vinyl siding.

Five months of Florence County summer heat

From May through September your air conditioner runs against afternoons that average 90°F. That is the stretch it has to hold up, day after day, with little rest between cycles.

Florence County also sees its share of hail and wind, 11 hail events and 97 damaging wind events recorded over the past ten years. The outdoor unit sits outside through all of it. If you are installing new, anything built since 2023 has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2, so that is the baseline any new system starts from.

5 months
May through September, your air conditioner is on duty
90°F
the average summer afternoon it cools against
11 hail events
in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
13.4 SEER2
the federal minimum any new unit must meet
Isometric grayscale illustration of a cutaway house showing interior rooms, ductwork, an indoor air handler, and an outdoor condenser unit on a pad connected by lines.
Your air conditioner works hardest from June through September.

NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals

An outdoor air conditioning condenser unit installed beside the exterior wall of a blue vinyl-sided house at sunset.

A higher-efficiency unit would save about $30 a year to run in Florence County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.

  • A higher-efficiency unit$380 a year
  • A new unit at the federal minimum, 14.3 SEER2$410 a year

Estimates for a typical Florence County home, from EIA household energy data, South Carolina fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.

What size air conditioner does my house need?
The right size depends on your square footage, your ceiling height, how much shade your house gets, and how well it holds heat, so no one can give you a number without looking at the house. A unit that is too big cools the air fast but shuts off before it pulls the moisture out, so rooms feel damp. One that is too small runs long stretches on the hottest afternoons and never quite catches up. A contractor will run a load calculation on your house and size the system to match, not just swap in whatever was there before.
Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
If your indoor coil and outdoor unit are matched and both in good shape, replacing just the outdoor unit can work. But most of the time it makes more sense to replace both together. An old coil paired with a new condenser often will not perform the way the new unit is rated to, and the mismatch can shorten its life. A contractor can check the age and condition of your coil and tell you whether it is worth keeping.
Do HVAC contractors in Florence need a state license to work on my home?
Yes. Anyone installing or servicing central air conditioning in your home needs a state HVAC license. Licensing means the contractor has passed testing on the trade and carries the insurance the state requires, which matters if something goes wrong during a job. Ask to see the license number before work starts, and you can look it up with the state board to confirm it is active.
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