Problems
Common AC problems in Longwood, Florida
Eight symptoms that cover most residential air conditioning faults in Longwood: no cooling, running but not cooling, not turning on, strange noises, a frozen coil, water leaks, short cycling and a sudden jump in the electric bill. Each with causes ranked by probability and researched repair costs.
Start here
Pick the symptom
- AC not cooling at all
- AC not turning on
- AC leaking water
- Frozen AC coil
- AC making strange noises
- AC short cycling
- Electric bill suddenly high
- AC running but not cooling
Each page follows the same shape: the symptom, the likely causes ranked by how often they actually turn out to be the answer, what you can safely check yourself, where the licensed line is, and a researched repair cost range with its source named.
Context
The two questions behind most of these
Two questions answer more Longwood faults than any diagnostic tool: how old is the house, and how old is the equipment. The city’s 4,962 improved residential parcels have a median build year of 1979, and 66.5% were built between 1970 and 1989 — the strip-heat era, and the era of a single central return and an attic air handler. Subdivision-by-subdivision detail.
Mature oak and pine canopy across Longwood and the Wekiva-area subdivisions is the other recurring factor: a shaded, leaf- and pollen-fouled condenser coil with restricted clearance is a routine local finding, not an edge case. Longwood exempts owner-occupied single-family homes from tree-removal permitting, so clearing limbs over a condenser does not require a City permit. The full answer.
Safety
If it is any of these, stop reading
A burning or hot-electrical smell. Smoke or scorching at the disconnect. A breaker that trips again immediately after being reset once. Water running into a ceiling or wall — not rare with an attic air handler on a full secondary pan. A loud metallic grinding from the condenser. Call a licensed contractor, not a forum.
Sources
- Seminole County Property Appraiser CAMA extract (Parcels.csv, dated 5 September 2026), tax district L1 — Longwood; improved residential parcels, DOR codes 01 and 04. https://www.scpafl.org/
- Florida Statutes §489.105(3), definitions of Class A, B and C air-conditioning contractor. https://www.flsenate.gov/laws/statutes/2024/489.105
- Florida DBPR licensee search. https://www.myfloridalicense.com/wl11.asp
- City of Longwood FAQ: “Do I need a permit to remove a tree?”. https://longwoodfl.org/FAQ.aspx?QID=163
Figures are dated. Permit fees, rebate amounts and code cycles change — re-check the primary source before you rely on a number here.
Symptom not on the list?
Describe what it is doing and when. Most faults in this housing stock narrow to two or three candidates from the description alone.