How long do AC units last in Florida?
Longer or shorter than the national figure depending on whose guide you read — and this site will not quote one, because no sourced Florida-specific service life was found in research. What is on the record: Central Florida runs about 3,452 cooling degree days a year, so equipment here accumulates runtime year-round rather than seasonally.
Why no number is published here
We could not source oneEvery contractor page you will read on this question gives you a range with an air of authority behind it. None of them cites a source, and the ones that do cite each other.
So there is no average on this page, and there will not be one until it can be attributed. What is here instead is what the record does support: how hard this climate works a compressor, and how old the housing around it is.
What can be said, from the record
Seminole County Property AppraiserRuntime, not age, is what wears equipment out. Central Florida records about 3,452 cooling degree days a year against 525 heating degree days on the NOAA 1991–2020 normals. Cooling load is close to seven times heating load, so a compressor here does not get a winter off. Whatever the national mean service life is, the Florida figure is being accumulated faster.
Most homes in this city are already on their second or third system. The median improved residential parcel in Altamonte Springs was built in 1981 — 45 years ago — and 72.4% of the city's 13,253 residential parcels went up between 1970 and 1989. No air conditioner from that build wave is still running. The duct usually is.
Seminole County Property Appraiser CAMA extract (Parcels.csv, 5 September 2026), tax district A1 — Altamonte Springs. 13,253 improved residential parcels: single-family, townhome and condominium. Apartments and manufactured homes excluded. Climate normals: NOAA 1991–2020, Orlando International Airport (USW00012815).
Better questions than “how old is it?”
Four- What refrigerant is in it? R-22 means reclaimed refrigerant only. R-410A means a shrinking pool of matched parts.
- What is it heating with? Electric strip heat is worth up to $1,000 to replace in this city. Why.
- How is the duct? New equipment on original 1970s attic duct underperforms from day one. Duct here.
- What is the next repair worth? The arithmetic, with this city's numbers in it.