Advice on installing airconditioning

C

china

I want to install airconditioning units in three rooms - the lounge and two bedrooms. The lounge room in particular is quite large. I think that I will need a split system, reverse cycle inverter unit in each room. I would like an opinion as to the best way to get this done. The options I see are:

1. Buy the air con units from a standard retailer like good guys or harvey norman and then they will give me a recommendation for an installer

2. Energy australia and AGL have been advertising about sending someone out to give an air conditioning opinion and quote for houses and then they will arrange purchasing of the units and installation. However, my previous interactions with these companies for utilities makes me wary of them.

3. Go to google and find some local airconditioning small companies who specialise in air con and go with them

What are your experiences and thoughts? I am interested in good after sales service and a cooler house without hassles. I hear stories of people's air con systems which are so loud and vibrate so much but cannot get anyone to fix it immediately after installation because the manufacturer blames the installer and the installer blames the manufacturer.
 
The quality of the install is just as important as a the quality of the AC unit. Find a well reputed local specialist AC company and not a bang and hang installer from a white goods mega store.

For brands, Daikin, Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic are all good brands to get quoted for.

Whilst they have a great name for ducted, Actron splits are pretty average, as are Samsung. Fujitsu had a great name but from AC mechs I know, quality is now very average and parts expensive, they rely on their marketing more than product.
 
China, 3 a/c units of your description might set you back 6K or more. Might be worth considering ducted a/c. I think this will also add more value to your home.
 
The issue with ducted is, at least when we installed one eight years ago is that if you want a bedzone on at night, your living room zone is probably also on. In future I would install separate units.
 
My experience for air conditioning my home.
From past work as a person responsible for a commercial building maintenance I had come to know air conditioning technicians.
At the time their recommendation was to use Daikin brand inverter type units.

Daikin only sell through their dealer network so I arranged for a dealer to come out and offer advice on the best installation that suited my needs.

Options were separate split systems.
Multi-split system with one outside unit.
Whole of house ducted.

My house is double brick and doesn't heat up as quickly as some more modern houses with vast windows.
Also I am frugal and the number of days of the year that air conditioning is required in my house isn't huge.
I also have ceiling fans in every room.

So i made a decision to only cool the living areas using an appropriate capacity split system that works well.
There is one thing that I hate about air conditioners and that is noise. The Daikin is nice and quiet.

The steps required were.
Upgrade of electricity feed from the street to cope with the extra load as my previous feed was insufficient.
I engaged the services of an electrician who liaised with the power network provider to co-ordinate their work.
Where I live the new cable from the street to the house termination was free, although other providers probably charge.

The electrician did the rest of the work up to the switchboard with provision for the air con connection using the tech specs of the intended unit that I had provided.
note: some all of house ducted units would require the installation of three phase power to the house and associated costs.

Once that was done the air con team came and installed the unit and their electrician ran the electricity cables from the switchboard to the unit.
I used AGL to provide and instal the unit as they were able to promise an instal date.
A place like AGL would subcontract the work out to installation teams.
 
China, redesign your house so that the return air vent can be located in a position which can be isolated from either of the two zones ie put in a wall/door to lock off the bedrooms or the lounge room that way the only areas being cooled are those which you want to cool/heat.
 
I thought China's house is tiny. If so, one giant unit will cool the entire house.
You may be able to position the unit on the wall that will blow the cool air straight down the centre of the house and flow into the bedrooms at the same time.
If you get someone to visit your house, they will recommend the best system for your particular house size and layout.
 
I have ducted AC installed in my house and think it is great.

I have stayed in 100 or more holiday cabins etc all with Split AC and they are a pain in the b***

I have often needed to have the AC on much longer and much hotter/colder than necessary with a fan going as well trying to get the AC to effect the rest of the cabin.

At home I just hit the button and at the most, 1 Hr later all is fixed.

I have 2 zones, if I ever move I would have 3 zones but I would Always get ducted, no doubt at all.
 
We have ducted (installed about 16 years ago). My parents had ducted (installed about 12 years ago).

Both houses (coincidence?) cooled down pretty quickly, but bedroom zones were always the "poor cousin" to the living areas. About two years ago we put small splits into two upstairs bedrooms and have blanked off the ducted air to these bedrooms.

The ducted worked superbly in the bedrooms at night, but during the day, these rooms just never got cool enough. Even with just the bedrooms on through the night, I always felt we had a big motor running just for two small rooms.

I reckon we have used the air at night less than 50 times over 16 years. We get good breezes so it is a very hot night before we need it.

The other thing we have learned (16 years too late) is that the reason our ducted air was louder than we were happy with was the cheapskate installer just needed to use a longer run from the motor overhead to the air intake. We had a new run of duct 'tubing' installed recently that is a couple of metres longer (it just sits on our ceiling and allows the air to flow further between intake and motor) and the difference it makes to the noise inside the house is amazing. We can hardly hear it running now.
 
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