Split System Installation in Geelong West

When the side path is gone, the workable positions are the rear yard, a wall bracket above head height on a rear or side elevation, or the front setback where the overlay and the streetscape allow it. We rule out the ones that will not work before quoting, rather than after.

Each answer has a cost. A rear yard position on a long narrow allotment means a pipe run down the length of the house at an indicative $80 to $130 per metre. A bracket needs a fixing the wall can carry. The front is usually the last resort.

An inverter condenser runs around 50 to 60 decibels at a metre. In a 900mm gap between two cottages, that sound reflects off both walls and lands in the neighbour bedroom rather than dispersing. It is the complaint we see most often from installations that were technically compliant.

Placement solves it more reliably than any equipment choice. Away from bedroom windows on both sides, out of a boundary corner that traps and reflects sound, on anti vibration feet or mounts, and never hard against a paling fence where the unit recirculates its own discharge air.

Original timber framing on a Victorian cottage is often undersized by modern standards and the studs are not where a modern gauge expects them. A wall bracket carrying a condenser has to fix into sound structure, so we open up and check rather than assuming a stud is behind the weatherboard.

Core drilling through weatherboard and the original lining is straightforward. What needs care is the penetration position, because these walls are frequently the only thing holding the cladding line straight, and a hole in the wrong place is visible from the street for the life of the house.

Where the rear yard has room for two or three condensers, single head systems are the better answer. They run at their best efficiency in each room, one failure costs you one room, and repairs are simpler and cheaper.

Where the only workable position holds one unit, a multi head serving two to five heads earns its place. The trade off is real: all heads share one compressor and one refrigerant circuit, part load efficiency is lower, and an outdoor fault takes out every room at once.

These cottages have small rooms but ceilings around 3 metres, no wall insulation and single glazed timber sashes, so capacities land higher than the dimensions suggest. Restoring ceiling insulation is the cheapest capacity available and usually pays for itself against a size increase.

Geelong West sits about a kilometre from Corio Bay, so there is sheltered bay salt exposure. Milder than the surf coast, but enough that we specify corrosion protected coils on exposed positions. We are 60km away in Altona and book work here in planned blocks, with a nominated week rather than an hour.