LOCATING A SPLIT SYSTEM DOWN THE SIDE OF YOUR HOME
It is desirable to locate outdoor units on the side of the house. Depending on the home it can keep them away from sight. Mounting them on brackets can help save space as well.
Clearly there is a very narrow space running down the side of this home in Diamond Creek. Generally we would prefer not to mount condensers on timber or weather board due to the possibility of vibration coming through the wall. Especially when the air conditioner is in a bedroom. There was also a gas meter directly below the location so we opted to mount the unit up as high as we could on a wall bracket. No complaints from the client about noise so all went well.
This home in Thornbury had the side walkway used often and the client wanted the units as out of the way as possible. The existing ducted system near the decking helped disguise the units a bit. Fortunately the walkway is wide enough for the units not to cause issues with access. The units were located on the ground. The client did not want to take a chance on any noise from wall mounting the units onto weatherboard. Being an older house you can never know how solid it is. Ground is much better.
Installations like this one in Epping are common. Single storey brick veneer homes with tile roofs make it easy to run pipes through roofs making it possible to locate the units down one side of the house no matter where the indoor unit is located. Generally these homes have a blind side not used much and perfect for things like air conditioners, gas heaters and water tanks. Mounting them on wall brackets still allows plenty of space underneath for storage or more utilities.
Once again running pipes through roofs in these homes makes it an attractive option to mount multiple air conditioners down one side of a home. This home in Glenroy had a fence with no gate on the side of the house so access is not really a consideration. The client opted to have the units mounted up high.
LOCATING AIR CONDITIONERS DOWN THE SIDE OF YOUR HOUSE
Suburb - Rosanna, Melbourne
Units installed are the Samsung 2.5kw AR09FSSSBWK1 models which are perfect for bedrooms.
Suburb - Thornbury, Melbourne
This installation was a rental property. It is a basic back to back install. The landlord was happy to locate the unit down the side of the house as it still left enough space to get things like bins, wheel barrows etc passed it. Note that the colourbond duct cover was an exact match to the existing trim on the home (manor red).
Important point: Being an older style weatherboard home we wouldn’t mount the unit on the wall anyway. This unit is a 7KW size model and is to heavy to mount to an old wall like this one. If the client had not of wanted to lose space down the side here, we would have suggested to locate the unit on the roof which was a slightly pitched flat colourbond roof.
The unit installed here is the Midea MSCP-24M4 which is popular with landlords because it is our least expensive brand. It still has a very good efficiency rating, is quiet and comes with a 5 year residential warranty.
Suburb - Kilsyth, Melbourne
The client informed us prior to installation that they are planning on building a decking in the near future right where the air conditioner was to be located.
The solution was to mount it up out of the way clearing the height of the decking floor by about 150mm. Both drains (there are indoor and outdoor drains on the units) were able to be routed to the down pipe to the left of the unit.
This will eliminate any water damge to the decking once it is built.
