Split Systems in Apartments – Difficult Installations Solved
Across Melbourne and Australia there are many apartment buildings that have been built that do not adequately give apartment owners and renters the best air conditioning solutions.
This client contacted us because their apartment when built had a split system bulkhead unit installed in the kitchen living area only. Worse still is the size of the system was only 2.5kw which as they told us did not effectively heat or cool the area required.
Why was this size unit put in only? It’s possible that the people who designed the apartment complex felt that the insulation rating of the building was so good that a small system would suffice. Or it was put in to save money. Either way, it wasn’t enough to satisfy the owner who told us they could not stand the previous summer due to the heat. Also, no air conditioning was installed into the bedrooms.
The difficulty in putting a new split system air conditioning into one of the bedrooms was having no space to fit one. The only external wall was all glass and window frame leaving no room to fit a unit there. It is possible to install a unit on an internal wall but it means fitting a condensation pump to the system which can be noisy and also requires cutting plaster to run the pipe work.
The solution was to build a bulk head over the top of the cupboards so that a unit could be located there. That would give space to run piping across to the external wall that was not glass.
On top of that the client wanted the outdoor unit on the other side of the balcony as there was a tap directly below the closest side of the balcony which precludes locating the out door unit there.
We worked with the client to comply with their body corporate requirements to allow the pipes and ducting to be run around the perimeter of the balcony and also include use of the existing colour bond duct that housed the existing air conditioning units pipes to minimize aesthetics to the outer part of the building.
The duct was to be painted at a later date by the owner to better blend into the window frame.
The end result was a new air conditioner in the bedroom and a very happy customer who informed us no one else had a solution to their problem.
