Fitted Air conditioning
Discussion
Has anyone recently had air con fitted to a property? We are in a very modern house, and have a TV room. Looking to have a single room, split system fitted. Lends itself for a straightforward fitment, with heat exchanger on the outside wall, and the internal fan unit on the opposite side of that wall at ceiling height. Has anyone got some recent prices, and experience of brands to avoid, or systems to aim for. Any gotchas or pitfalls to think about?
Countdown said:
One of my brothers has just had it fitted to his bedroom. It cost £1,400
A Panasonic unit AIUI.
One thing I'd suggest is that the external unit is located at the back of the house. They look gopping if at the front.
This.A Panasonic unit AIUI.
One thing I'd suggest is that the external unit is located at the back of the house. They look gopping if at the front.
Hide the units as best you can, because nothing ruins a house more than an air con unit hanging off an outside wall.
They look horrendous.
A friend of mine had air con fitted in two areas of his house, and he paid more to have a longer pipe work, and the external units mounted on a part of the house that is hidden by garden shrubbery/trees as he was so worried about how they looked.
You have have up to 15-20 metres of pipework length between the indoor and outdoor units.
normalbloke said:
Thank you gents. Is it too intrusive to ask for any images of the fan units and pipework? What areas are you both in?
I'll try to take some pictures of mine later. Just to mention that the previous owner installed mine so they've been operating for at least12-15 years. Ergo the external fan units are rusty and covered in moss 
caymanbill said:
Also intrested in this myself - are the external units as noisy as those found on a commercial building? If so, I would be worried that they'd make enough of a racket to piss my neighbours off. Is this not an issue?
They are not that loud. I have all three going today and together they sound like a fan from a hot car.Pic below the day they were installed.
We have a single split unit 3.5kw. It only pulls about 1kw of electricity.
We have it in the hallway outside our bedrooms and the outside unit on a flat roof directly behind it. It can keep the whole of upstairs at 18°C if we wished, but usually leave it in eco mode so it’s quiet/silent at night. With all the working from home and recent temps in the SE it’s made a huge difference to our quality of life! Despite being upstairs it also knocks the edge off downstairs. I was planning on getting an additional unit downstairs but after using this first one I’m not going to bother. Our house is reasonably well insulated however.
They also make very efficient heaters. I think ours is 4kw heating power from 1kw electricity. It’s savagely hot.
Ours cost a tad over £1k but it’s about as simple as you can get. We even had power in a perfect location.
Word of caution - these are captured by permitted development planning permission rules. You’re only allowed 1 external unit and there are rules about it being more than 1m or something from the property boundary or flat roof edge. If you get more than 1 external unit or want it at the boundary you technically need planning permission or your neighbours can object.
Our outside unit is very quiet. We leave it on 24/7 in this weather with no issues. Standing right next to it it’s comparable in noise to our freezer. Some of the more powerful units which feed multiple internal wall units can be a lot louder.
We have it in the hallway outside our bedrooms and the outside unit on a flat roof directly behind it. It can keep the whole of upstairs at 18°C if we wished, but usually leave it in eco mode so it’s quiet/silent at night. With all the working from home and recent temps in the SE it’s made a huge difference to our quality of life! Despite being upstairs it also knocks the edge off downstairs. I was planning on getting an additional unit downstairs but after using this first one I’m not going to bother. Our house is reasonably well insulated however.
They also make very efficient heaters. I think ours is 4kw heating power from 1kw electricity. It’s savagely hot.
Ours cost a tad over £1k but it’s about as simple as you can get. We even had power in a perfect location.
Word of caution - these are captured by permitted development planning permission rules. You’re only allowed 1 external unit and there are rules about it being more than 1m or something from the property boundary or flat roof edge. If you get more than 1 external unit or want it at the boundary you technically need planning permission or your neighbours can object.
Our outside unit is very quiet. We leave it on 24/7 in this weather with no issues. Standing right next to it it’s comparable in noise to our freezer. Some of the more powerful units which feed multiple internal wall units can be a lot louder.
caymanbill said:
Also intrested in this myself - are the external units as noisy as those found on a commercial building? If so, I would be worried that they'd make enough of a racket to piss my neighbours off. Is this not an issue?
Mine's fairly noisy, nosier than GC's by the sound of it. It's mounted higher on the wall fwiw. I had the noisy bit located at the far side of the garage where it doesn't disturb me or the neighbours. The indoor unit is quiet enough to sleep through. £1300 in 2011, just serviced, all OK, LG Inverter 2. We have two - one mini-split in our bedroom (which is probably roughly what you'd install in the UK) and one much larger unit in the kitchen/diner/lounge. The outdoor units make a slight hum from the fan but no other noise (they're far quieter than a car radiator fan, perhaps akin to a freezer as someone said above). The volume of the indoor units vary - with the fans turned right up they make a fair bit of noise but turned down I can easily sleep with my head 4 feet from the one in our bedroom.
eein said:
Is there much vibration from the radiator?
I've been considering this for a while and have a neat location to 'hide' it away - on the flat parapet roof of a rear extension. However this is our living room so a vibration buzzing on the roof may be annoying.
If it's like mine it would be, but it sounds like others would not. I've been considering this for a while and have a neat location to 'hide' it away - on the flat parapet roof of a rear extension. However this is our living room so a vibration buzzing on the roof may be annoying.
eein said:
Is there much vibration from the radiator?
I've been considering this for a while and have a neat location to 'hide' it away - on the flat parapet roof of a rear extension. However this is our living room so a vibration buzzing on the roof may be annoying.
Mine was originally sat on our flat roof on foam/insulated feet. Although standing outside next to it was quiet, in the room beneath there was a really annoying resonating/hum/drone. I had the fitters back to wall mount it just off the flat roof and now we can’t hear it indoors. I've been considering this for a while and have a neat location to 'hide' it away - on the flat parapet roof of a rear extension. However this is our living room so a vibration buzzing on the roof may be annoying.
We completely renovated our house. Decided to install a unit downstairs and in the loft conversion. Both are Daikin units. They’re virtually silent when in a “night”mode, can be controlled using an app and keep the house at a perfect temperature in the summer. Additionally they can be used to heat, which is a bonus.
richatnort said:
What is the upkeep of them? I'm guessing you have to get them maintained?
There’s a dust filter to vacuum/wash. That’s about it as far as I’m aware. The gas shouldn’t lose pressure if it’s installed correctly.Some air con engineers offer servicing but I don’t really know what that entails and it certainly doesn’t seem to be necessary.
The main consumable is electricity!
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