Installing A Split System In A Strata Building

An air conditioning install inside a house is a straightforward job. The same install in an apartment involves at least three decisions that are not the installer's to make.

That is why these get booked, quoted and then stall.

The approval comes first

Mounting an outdoor unit means fixing to a wall, a balcony or a roof, and running pipework and drainage through them. Most of that is common property.

That generally requires approval from the owners corporation before anything is ordered, and many schemes have a by-law setting out where units may go, what they may look like and what noise limits apply.

Booking the install before that approval exists is the single most common reason one of these falls over.

Where the outdoor unit goes

There are usually only two or three viable positions, and they are decided by more than convenience.

Airflow, because a unit boxed into a small enclosure cannot reject heat and will run badly and fail early.

Noise, because the unit sits close to a neighbour's window in most apartment buildings and noise complaints are the fastest way for an approval to be withdrawn.

Appearance, since a lot of schemes control what can be seen from the street or from a common courtyard.

Service access, because the unit will need maintenance and a position that requires scaffolding to reach is a position that never gets serviced.

The condensate is the detail that causes complaints

An operating indoor unit produces water, and it has to go somewhere.

Draining it onto a balcony, or letting it run down a facade, is the most common cause of a complaint after installation. It stains, it drips onto the balcony below, and it eventually attracts a letter from the strata manager.

Running it to a proper drainage point takes more work at install and is what separates a job that generates complaints from one that does not. In older buildings finding that point is the hard part, and it is worth resolving before the quote rather than on the day.

The penetration

Every pipe run through an external wall is a hole in the building envelope.

Done properly it is sleeved, sealed and finished so water cannot track back in. Done quickly it is a hole with silicone around it, and two years later there is a damp patch on the internal wall that nobody connects to the air conditioner.

In a building with a fire rated wall or slab, a penetration also has to be reinstated to that rating, which is a separate consideration again.

The switchboard

A new unit is a new circuit. In an older apartment the board may not have a spare way, or may not have the capacity.

That has to be checked before the unit is bought, not after it is on the wall. A switchboard assessment is a short job and it prevents the situation where everything is installed and cannot be energised.

What to line up before booking

The by-law or the scheme's requirements for air conditioning. Written approval. An agreed position for the outdoor unit. A condensate route. Confirmation the board can take it.

With those five settled, the install is a day. Without them it is a series of half days spread across a month.

We take these as one job across climate and air, electrical and building, including the penetration and the make-good, so there is one team answering for the finish rather than three. If you are arranging one in a managed building, talk to us before the approval goes in and we will tell you what the committee will ask.