Split System Installation in Lara

Lara sits on an exposed plain, so wind loading on roof mounted and wall mounted equipment is a real design input rather than a formality. A condenser on a bracket at an exposed corner takes that load through its fixings, and a mount specified by habit is the one that works loose.

Ground mounting on a pad is the simplest answer where the block allows it, and on the older township lots of 700 to 1,000 square metres it usually does. Where a bracket is necessary, the bracket and its fixings get chosen for the position rather than pulled off the van.

Geelong is drier than Melbourne, sitting in the Otway rain shadow, and Lara is at the dry end of that with around 425mm of rain a year. Combined with a treeless plain and no mature canopy over the estates, that means summer sun reaches walls and roofs with nothing in the way.

It shows up in the sizing. West facing rooms with no shading run hotter here than the same room behind a tree in Newtown, so a living area with a large west facing slider commonly needs 7.1kW where an equivalent shaded room takes 5.0kW.

Grassfire risk shapes building here. The January 1969 fire killed 17 people and destroyed 43 homes, and the surrounding plain still burns. That does not stop anyone installing air conditioning, but it justifies more thought about how outdoor cable and equipment are protected than a built up suburb would need.

In practice it means cable protected in conduit rather than run exposed, sealed enclosures at the isolator, penetrations properly sealed, and keeping the condenser clear of accumulated dry grass and debris. All of it is cheap at installation.

The older township lots are 700 to 1,000 square metres with real driveway access to the rear, so there is space for two or three outdoor units and separate single head systems are the better answer.

The newer estate lots tighten to 400 to 600 square metres with only a narrow side path, which changes the calculation. Where there is one viable condenser position, a multi head serving two to five heads keeps the outdoor footprint to a single unit.

Reverse cycle heats a room for roughly 28 to 36 cents an hour against 50 to 72 cents for ducted gas, about $200 to $450 a year. Victorian Energy Upgrades discounts come off the invoice directly, no income test, property at least two years old, $200 including GST minimum contribution, and the program changed on 30 September 2026. Newer estate homes may not clear the two year test.

Lara is about 50km from our Altona workshop, the closest part of the Geelong region to us and the most practical to attend. That still means scheduled work booked in blocks with a nominated week, not same day attendance.