Air Conditioning Installed

My initial house renovation plan included the installation of ducted air conditioning.  But when the renovation project was completed (except for the bathroom, to be done later this year) I became reluctant to disturb the roof, attic, and ceilings with the ducting work.  I figured that installation of the vents would have been particularly messy,  given the unusual setup of a double ceiling separated by 10mm batons.  I also did not want to mar the rustic look of the cottage with an industrial looking compressor on the outside and indoor unit on the roof.  I decided to try to get by with small fan heaters, hoping that the well insulated ceilings and external walls would help produce a good result.

Pad Ready for Pour

I returned to Australia in early September expecting to find advancing warmth and dry weather of spring and found myself in the coldest September in 45 years, and at the end of one of the coldest winters in Perth's history.   My patience with the cold temperature ended when I realized one night that my fingers were tingling with cold and my nose was turning blue, here in the "comfort" of my home.  Two days later I visited Midland Solar and Air and had a talk with Tom Birch, one of the two owners of the

Pouring

business.  I made it clear that money was not the main issue and that I was interested in quality and functionality.  Yes, I know that this is a poor bargaining tactic but I've learned that if I can remove pressures of having to be the lowest bidder and urgent delivery time I get a better result, partly because I get good will.  This relies, of course, on the integrity of the supplier.

Pad Ready

I had arrived armed with a plan of the cottage and photographs of the dining and living room walls and got confirmation from Tom that it was indeed feasible to install a unit in each room.  Tom recommended two top-of-the line Daikin brand "reverse cycle inverter wall split" units because it is the only brand that does not trip out at very high temperatures (around 104F or 40C) and is the only brand installed by the state government and large firms in the Northwest of the state.  There were other advantages such as the availability of parts and support.  In the living area would be a model FTXM20QVMA model , delivering 2.0 KW cooling and 2.5 KW heat.  The larger dining-kitchen area would have a model FTXM35QVMA, delivering 3.5 KW cooling and 3.7 KW heat.

Aaron and Ian at Work

By the end of our discussion I thought that I had the measure of the man and his company and decided not to visit the next potential supplier on my list.  A day or two later Tom visited the house and confirmed that we would be able to find enough wall space for the installations in the two rooms.  He checked out the electrical meter box and  pronounced it OK.  (In fact it's state of the art and 3-phase, though very cramped.)  Placement of the compressors was a big issue with me and he confirmed that we could site them under the veranda with no problem ... sort of ... because I undertook to build the concrete pad for the compressors, which took two days of hard work.

As usual I overbuilt, and the pad is dead level, and 100 mm (4 inches) thick with steel mesh.

Installation was yesterday.  Aaron and his helper Ian arrived at 7.30 AM and the electrician arrived about an hour later.  I thought that the job would be completed in 2 or 3 hours but all three of them worked until after 3 PM.  But they could not complain about the preparation and layout.  The compressor pad was ready for use and they loved the attic with its steep roof and plenty of light and ventilation from the open area (slats with anti bird wire mesh) over the veranda part of the ceiling.  They had the run of the kitchen and as the previous work teams enjoyed lunch on the veranda.  They were a good team and did an excellent installation,  consulting with me on minor decisions and going to a lot of trouble to make the result as neat and attractive as possible.

Compressors in Position

Ducting Around Front Door

A/C Unit above Dining Room Window

A/C Unit Above Front Door

I'll devote an hour or two this morning to reading the manual and becoming familiar with using the remote controls.  There is a lot to learn because the units have all sort of function and timer features. The warranty, by the way, is 5 years parts and labor.  The guarantee of the installation workmanship is only 2 years but Tom told me that in the extremely unlikely event that a problem surfaced after 2 years he would make it good, and I believed him.  There is not maintenance work to be done by me or anyone else on the compressors, and the refrigerant is expected to last for the life of the units. 

The bedroom and office will be on their own as far as air conditioning is concerned.  Both of those rooms heat very quickly with fan heaters and I don't find it a great inconvenience to switch on the electric blanket and fan heater an our or two before bedtime.  Cooling is not usually a big deal for me partly because of my disposition and largely due to the low desert-like humidity during the summer months.  However, during a heat wave I figure those rooms will benefit from the cooler ambient temperatures in the rest of the house, particularly if I used fans to push cool air into those rooms.

Incidentally, that energy efficient inverter technology seems to really work.  Ian had a cheap A/C unit in his house and was paying big electricity bills.  He replaced it with a modern inverter system and claims that he can barely see the effect of running the air conditioner in his electricity bills.

I plan to keep improving the insulation of the house.  The ceilings and walls are bulletproof, but more can be done with thicker curtains, better door seals, and most of all, with under-floor insulation of the floors in the dining and sitting rooms. These rooms were extensions of the veranda and have "shot and chamfered" flooring - not tongue-in-groove - and allow some air to pass between the boards.

Finally, I realize now that fully ducted air conditioning would have been feasible for this house.  The internal unit would have been sited in the attic and the compressor would have been under the veranda.  More important, modern air ducting is flexible and not the rigid rectangular metal channels of the old days.  But putting aside the fact that the installation would have been more complex (e.g. getting the equipment into the attic) and expensive, I like the modularity, redundancy, and scale-ability (because I can always add small units in the bedroom and office) of the split systems.  And right or wrong,  I think that there is better temperature control throughout the house.

The final cost, including taxes and installation was $4,700 AUD.