AC Installation & Replacement in Ocala, FL
A new system sized to the house, not guessed from the old nameplate. Permitted, inspected, and commissioned so it actually hits its rating.
A new air conditioning system is the most expensive appliance in a Florida house and the one that runs the most hours. Getting it right is not about the brand on the box. It is about sizing the system to the actual house with a load calculation instead of copying the old nameplate, matching the indoor and outdoor equipment so the efficiency on the sticker is the efficiency you get, fixing the ductwork the new system has to breathe through, pulling the mechanical permit, and commissioning the finished install with instruments so it leaves the way the manufacturer intended.
Most replacement calls in Marion County are twenty-year-old builder-grade systems from the mid-2000s housing boom, R-22 systems that have finally become uneconomical to repair, and systems that were oversized on day one and have never controlled humidity properly. Each of those is a different conversation, and the quote you get from us is for a specific system sized to your house, in writing, with what is included and what is not, and no pressure to sign it that day.
How a replacement actually goes
The load calculation and the commissioning are the two places where a cheap install and a correct install part ways, so we are specific about them.
- Survey and load calculation Square footage, orientation, windows, insulation, ceiling height, duct condition and where the air handler lives. That goes into an ACCA Manual J load calculation, which the Florida energy code requires for new equipment, and it tells us the tonnage the house actually needs. It is frequently a half-ton less than what is on the pad now.
- A written quote for a specific system Matched indoor and outdoor equipment with the AHRI certificate number for the pairing, so the SEER2 rating is real, not implied. What is included, what is not, permit and disposal covered. Two or three options when they make sense, one when they do not.
- Mechanical permit An HVAC change-out is permitted work in Florida. Unincorporated Marion County goes through Marion County Building Safety; inside the city limits it is Ocala's building department. We pull it under our license. A change-out with no permit is the thing a home inspector finds the day you try to sell.
- Remove and recover Old refrigerant is recovered, not vented, per EPA Section 608. Old equipment and line set insulation go with us.
- Set the equipment properly Level pad and vibration isolation outside; a sealed, supported air handler with a properly trapped condensate drain and the float switch the code requires inside. New line set where the old one is undersized or contaminated, otherwise flushed and pressure-tested.
- Ductwork the system can breathe through A new system on an old leaking duct system is a new system that underperforms. We seal and repair what the load calculation says needs it, and where ducts are replaced the Florida energy code requires them to be leak-tested.
- Evacuate, charge, commission Deep vacuum to below 500 microns before charging, then charge by weight and verify by subcooling or superheat, check airflow and static pressure, set the thermostat and blower profile, and record all of it on the startup sheet.
- Inspection, registration, walkthrough County final inspection, equipment registered with the manufacturer so the parts warranty runs its full term, and a walkthrough with you: filter, thermostat, drain, what maintenance the warranty expects.
What actually moves the price
We do not publish system prices, because a price on a house we have not measured is a guess and a guess is what a bait quote is made of. These are the things we are looking at during the survey.
Tonnage comes from the load calculation, not the old unit. Bigger is not better: an oversized system short-cycles and never runs long enough to pull the humidity out.
A higher tier costs more up front and less every month. In a house that runs the AC ten months a year the math tilts toward efficiency faster than it does up north.
The single most common reason a new system disappoints. We test and tell you before the quote, not after the install.
Attic installs need overflow protection and are simply harder to work in; closets built around a 1985 air handler often need modification for a modern cabinet.
Newer A2L-refrigerant systems can have different line-set and electrical requirements than the R-410A unit coming out.
Most Marion County homes are best served by a heat pump; it heats far more cheaply than strips on the handful of cold mornings we get.
Refrigerants, ratings and rebates: what changed
SEER2, not SEER. Since 2023 the federal efficiency rating is SEER2, measured with more realistic duct static pressure, and the Southeast minimum for a split air conditioner is 14.3 SEER2 under 45,000 BTU/h and 13.8 SEER2 above it; heat pumps are 14.3 SEER2 and 7.5 HSPF2 nationally. If a quote still says "SEER," ask which rating it means.
R-454B and R-32 replaced R-410A. Under the EPA's AIM Act rules, new residential systems built from 2025 use lower-global-warming A2L refrigerants. They are mildly flammable by classification, which is why the equipment carries leak sensors and why the install standards tightened. It also means a new outdoor unit generally cannot be paired with an old R-410A indoor coil: replacement is a matched system, not half of one.
Utility rebates exist; ask which one you are on. Duke Energy Florida, SECO Energy and Ocala Electric Utility have each run efficiency rebates for qualifying heat pump installations, and the programs and amounts change. We tell you what your utility is offering at the time of the quote and handle the paperwork where the utility allows a contractor to. We do not quote rebate dollars on a website because they will be wrong by the time you read them.
Usually goes with
Related services
Heat Pumps & Mini-Splits
For the garage, the lanai, the addition, the tack room. Ductless zones that cool one space without touching the rest of the house.
Heat pump and mini-split installation in OcalaDuct Cleaning & Repair
Leaky attic ducts pull hot, wet air into the house and dust into the lungs. We test, seal, repair and clean, in that order.
Duct cleaning in OcalaAC Maintenance
A Florida system runs nine months a year. A real tune-up with measured readings, a cleared drain and a written report keeps it alive longer.
AC maintenance in OcalaQuestions we get asked
AC Installation & Replacement questions
How much does a new AC unit cost in Florida?
What size AC do I need?
Heat pump or straight cool with heat strips?
Do I need a permit to replace my AC?
Can you install a system I bought online?
Where we work
AC installation across Marion County
Free quotes
Tell us what the system is doing
We call you back to set a time, come look at it with you, and you get the price before any work starts. Free, and no obligation either way.