Open 24/7 for emergencies
AC replacement in Sterling runs $5,942 to $14,450 installed, with the gas furnace already in the house kept.
Price range
$5,942-$14,450
8yrs @ 7.99%
$84/mo
15yrs @ 9.99%
$64/mo
Monthly figures on the starting price, the whole price financed, on approved credit. The lender sets the final terms. How financing works
Get your price in writing
Send this and the office calls or texts you back to set a time.
We’ll call or text this number about your request. By sending it you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Rather talk now? (703) 997-9757
5.0 stars across 1,131 reviews
One of our HVAC technicians moving a new condenser up a driveway, the van behind him.
Licensed and insuredVirginia Class A contractor #2705192276
24/7 emergency serviceOften same-day, and we will tell you honestly when we can get there.
Our own HVAC installersA dedicated heating and cooling team, separate from our plumbers
Price in writing firstYou see every option priced before anything is ordered
What it costs
The same price book our estimator runs on, for a central air conditioner on its own, keeping the furnace you have. A single-stage unit on a small house sits near the bottom; a variable-speed one on a big house, near the top.
A central air conditioner alone, keeping your furnace, installed
$5,942 to $14,450
or $99/mo at 0% APR for 60 months
An air conditioner and furnace together, installed
$8,898 to $23,000
or $148/mo at 0% APR for 60 months
A heat pump in the AC’s place, installed
$8,499 to $21,650
or $142/mo at 0% APR for 60 months
Diagnostic visit, if it may be worth fixing
$99
Monthly figures: 60mo @ 0% APR on each starting price, the whole price financed, on approved credit. Longer plans lower the payment and cost more in total. The lender sets the final terms. How financing works
The HVAC replacement cost estimator narrows it to your house. Then a tech measures, and you get the installed price in writing before anything is ordered.
With Comfort+ membership at $199 a year, the diagnostic visit is included, and half of each repair bill is banked toward replacing that system, up to $1,500.
What’s different in Sterling
Close to six in ten Sterling owner homes heat with gas, and that’s where an air conditioner on its own makes sense: the furnace stays, and the condenser outside and the coil sitting above the furnace get replaced. The gas is lopsided, though. Cascades, Lowes Island, Oak Grove and Arcola are mostly gas houses. Countryside is the opposite, mostly electric, and around Sterling Park and in Sugarland Run it splits close to even. A Countryside condenser is usually a heat pump that also heats the house, and swapping one of those means a heat pump system, $8,499 to $21,650, not an AC.
Sterling is older than the county around it. The part the Census calls Sterling, around Sterling Park, has a median owner home from 1979, against 2003 for Loudoun County, and across Sterling’s Census places more than half the homes went up from 1980 through 1999. Houses like that are on their second or third air conditioner, so what matters is when the current one went in. A condenser installed in the 2000s most likely holds R-22, and with R-22 production over since 2020, a leak on it turns into a replacement conversation. A newer unit on the refrigerant that followed can still be serviced.
In Cascades and Lowes Island the typical owner home dates from 1996, so the builder’s air conditioner is usually long gone, and the one out back now is often younger than the gas furnace inside. That’s the house this page fits best: the failing AC gets replaced, matched to the furnace’s blower, and the furnace keeps working. Oak Grove is different. Its typical owner home is from 2005, mostly townhouses, and builder condensers still running there have about twenty summers on them, often beside a furnace the same age. On an Oak Grove original, a quote for furnace and AC together, $8,898 to $23,000, belongs on the same sheet as the AC by itself.
Dulles Airport, beside Sterling, logs about 1,233 cooling degree days a year against 1,738 at Reagan National, and its July nights average about 66.8 degrees, around five cooler. That’s a reason not to oversize: a Sterling AC that’s right for the house runs long, steady cycles and gets a cool night to catch up. About a third of Sterling’s homes are townhouses, condensers lined up a few feet apart behind them, so the new unit’s footprint gets measured against the old slot. Around Dulles Town Center most homes are rented, and the owner signs off on the price.
Neighborhood by neighborhood
Census figures for the owner-occupied homes in each place, and what that usually means for the AC that’s there now.
| Place | Median home built | Most homes are | Heated with | The AC there now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling | 1979 | single-family houses, about 5 in 10 | electricity, about 5 in 10 | Mostly electric heat, so the cooling is usually a heat pump. |
| Lowes Island | 1996 | single-family houses, about 6 in 10 | gas, about 7 in 10 | Townhouse condensers in tight side yards and on decks. |
| Cascades | 1996 | townhouses, about 4 in 10 | gas, about 8 in 10 | 1980s and 90s houses, many on their second air conditioner. |
| Sugarland Run | 1983 | single-family houses, about 6 in 10 | gas, about 5 in 10 | 1980s and 90s houses, many on their second air conditioner. |
| Dulles Town Center | 1998 | condo and apartment buildings, about 5 in 10 | gas, about 9 in 10 | Condo and apartment buildings: compact condensers on shared pads and roofs. |
| Arcola | 2017 | townhouses, about 5 in 10 | gas, about 8 in 10 | Townhouse condensers in tight side yards and on decks. |
| Oak Grove | 2005 | townhouses, about 8 in 10 | gas, about 9 in 10 | Townhouse condensers in tight side yards and on decks. |
By the numbers
From the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 survey, owner-occupied homes unless it says otherwise.
When it’s time
In a Sterling house from the 1980s or 90s, the air conditioner out back is often the second or third, and that first replacement may have passed fifteen years itself. Read its data plate for the date and the refrigerant. If it’s a 2000s unit on R-22 with a leak, the $99 diagnostic puts the repair beside the replacement range, and the gas furnace can stay if it checks out.
An air conditioner put in before 2010 most likely holds R-22, which hasn’t been made since 2020. A leak on one of those usually ends the repair road.
It’s the pump at the heart of the outdoor unit and its costliest part. Out of warranty on an older unit, the repair can come close to half the price of a new AC, the point where Goodman says replacing may be the better money.
Choosing who installs it
Questions to ask anybody who quotes you, us included.
Manufacturer parts coverage often runs ten years on registered equipment, and registration usually has to happen within a short window after the install. Ask who registers the new condenser and coil, and make sure the model and serial numbers are on your invoice. If the house is a rental, the owner should keep that paperwork, not the tenant.
Ask how they picked the size. Copying the old nameplate repeats whatever was guessed when the house was built.
The outdoor unit and the coil on the furnace are rated as a pair. Ask whether the quote replaces both, and what happens to the line set.
A good company puts the repair price next to the replacement range and lets you choose. Already holding somebody’s big number? Take the free second opinion first.
Two of our crew going over a work order before the day's calls.
From our Google reviews
5.0 stars across 1,131 reviews. Read them on our reviews page.
Tyler from SwiftPro is very knowledgeable and professional on HVAC. Tech Edis and Rony are very professional and done good job to install AC
Where we work
Next door to Sterling: Ashburn, Herndon, Reston, Great Falls and Chantilly.
Questions
At about twenty summers, price both. A builder condenser that age most likely holds R-22, so a leak or a dead compressor usually tips it toward a new unit, while a capacitor or a contactor is still a small fix worth making to buy a summer while you plan. The $99 diagnostic tells you which one you’ve got, with the repair priced in writing first.
A plain AC needs a furnace to pair with, and most Countryside houses don’t have one; they heat with a heat pump and an air handler with electric strips. Trading the heat pump for a cooling-only unit would leave those strips doing all the heating. The like-for-like job there is a heat pump system, $8,499 to $21,650, and the estimator prices it for your house’s size.
$5,942 to $14,450 installed for a central air conditioner on its own, keeping the furnace you have; size and efficiency set where yours lands. An AC and furnace together run $8,898 to $23,000. The HVAC replacement cost estimator gives your house its own number.
It’s worth pricing. A heat pump cools exactly like an AC and also heats on mild days, so with your gas furnace it becomes dual fuel. A heat pump system runs $8,499 to $21,650 installed, and we’ll price it both ways.
Ready when you are
Call, or send the form at the top. A tech measures the house and puts the installed price in writing before anything is ordered, and if the old AC is worth fixing, you’ll hear that first.
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing
4230 Lafayette Center Dr N, Chantilly, VA 20151
44679 Endicott Dr, Suite 211, Ashburn, VA 20147
Virginia Class A contractor license #2705192276
SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing is a licensed, BBB Accredited (A rating), independently owned heating, cooling and plumbing company in Chantilly, serving Sterling and the rest of Northern Virginia. Virginia contractor license #2705192276. 5.0 stars across 1,131 reviews on Google, Angi, Yelp, the BBB and Facebook. SwiftPro maintains a dedicated HVAC team and a dedicated plumbing team.
From SwiftPro Heating, Cooling & Plumbing in Chantilly. Housing figures are the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024, for each place named; permit, water and sewer facts link to each office’s own page and were checked in September and October 2026.