Split Air con

fobose · 13 Apr 2020 at 12:05

Hehe yeah. After the initial survey I had many thoughts on what would potentially be better (obviously have lots of time to think about best placement and routes for pipework etc). I changed the original plan so that the master bedroom was included on the same unit as the other two rooms I had installed, mainly as I wouldn't have enough money to get 2 outside units and 5/6 inside units. Plus trying to work out the neatest possible route for the trunking etc.

35C !! That is crazy. When we had the 35c few days, ours was around the 29c mark and would not cool down until early the next morning. When did you get your system installed?

RJC · 13 Apr 2020 at 12:16

I installed the same in a friends Cinema at the bottom of their garden.

The images were not the finished product as he has some more cables to install on the tray.

CaptainRAVE · 13 Apr 2020 at 12:52

fobose said:
Hehe yeah. After the initial survey I had many thoughts on what would potentially be better (obviously have lots of time to think about best placement and routes for pipework etc). I changed the original plan so that the master bedroom was included on the same unit as the other two rooms I had installed, mainly as I wouldn't have enough money to get 2 outside units and 5/6 inside units. Plus trying to work out the neatest possible route for the trunking etc.

35C !! That is crazy. When we had the 35c few days, ours was around the 29c mark and would not cool down until early the next morning. When did you get your system installed?

We were originally going to have the units on two different sides of the house to multiple external units, but it was more costly. It seemed to be a bit more fiddly to have a split system, but it has worked well. I may eventually add one to my gaming room, but I’ve spent enough for now and the main bedroom unit has a decent effect on the rest of the upstairs.

Our bedroom and kitchen pick up the afternoon/evening sun and it bakes. Ours was installed mid February.

RJC said:
I installed the same in a friends Cinema at the bottom of their garden.

The images were not the finished product as he has some more cables to install on the tray.

Snap!

fobose · 20 Apr 2020 at 11:16

CaptainRAVE said:
We were originally going to have the units on two different sides of the house to multiple external units, but it was more costly. It seemed to be a bit more fiddly to have a split system, but it has worked well. I may eventually add one to my gaming room, but I’ve spent enough for now and the main bedroom unit has a decent effect on the rest of the upstairs.

Our bedroom and kitchen pick up the afternoon/evening sun and it bakes. Ours was installed mid February.

Snap!

I think the bedroom is the most important. I can live with a hot office but glad I was able to add mine easily to the install.

@RJC nice install at your friends. Is that a log cabin? Have they insulated it and does it cool/warm the room quickly?

The scaffolders came back today to remove all of the scaffold (Yipee).

CaptainRAVE · 20 Apr 2020 at 11:25

fobose said:
I think the bedroom is the most important. I can live with a hot office but glad I was able to add mine easily to the install.

@RJC nice install at your friends. Is that a log cabin? Have they insulated it and does it cool/warm the room quickly?

The scaffolders came back today to remove all of the scaffold (Yipee).

Tidy job. Amazing how neatly they do it. I agree, bedroom is essential and I still get the effect throughout the rest of the upstairs anyway.

RJC · 20 Apr 2020 at 12:35

@fobose that does a look a neat job!

Their cabin is fully insulated and sound proofed - he did a log on Av Forums!

He said he heats and cools without issue and uses the WiFi module so he can set the temp before the movie begins!!

I need login and find the link and posted here.

fobose · 20 Apr 2020 at 13:00

Cool! Be interesting to see the build log

I fully intend to use the wifi modules in mine too so I can turn it on before I leave work

Mind you it does have a timer function too so might just set that up.

CaptainRAVE · 20 Apr 2020 at 13:10

RJC said:
@fobose that does a look a neat job!

Their cabin is fully insulated and sound proofed - he did a log on Av Forums!

He said he heats and cools without issue and uses the WiFi module so he can set the temp before the movie begins!!

I need login and find the link and posted here.

Yes, that’s another great feature with the WiFi, although saying that they’re so effective they achieve the desired temperature in a few minutes.

RJC · 20 Apr 2020 at 18:00

@fobose found it - build log:

https://www.avforums.com/threads/dedicated-wooden-outbuilding-home-cinema.1908613/

fobose · 20 Apr 2020 at 21:30

My gosh! What an amazing build. I was desperate for a drink whilst reading that but could not pull myself away to get one

Well, now I know what I am doing with the bottom of my L shaped garden

P.S Since installing the AC in his out building, has he had you install it in his house too?

RJC · 20 Apr 2020 at 22:15

Ha ha, he hasn’t

Sadly I have not seen the finished article, it was finding time to go up and see him and changing jobs.

HungryHippos · 8 Jun 2020 at 16:43

Afternoon chaps, this seems like the best place to discuss this at the moment. Bit of a bump but whatever!

I am getting a couple of quotes in to get a small system done, I don't think my requirements are insane, but I would like to be able to heat or cool the rooms I use the most, so even if the weather isn't hot I can see the heating function being useful in the winter.

This is my house layout:

I'm looking at getting one outdoor unit to service 2 indoor ones, one in the Lounge (ground floor top left) and one in the study/bedroom directly above it (First Floor top left).

Pic below of the outdoor location that it would roughly sit in. Please excuse the absolutely filthy looking render, I haven't been here long and I think it needs a good clean + bad weather really shows it up!

The indoor unit for the Lounge will probably need to sit to the right of the patio doors in the image. Although technically it could go directly opposite, it would mean running the trunking up the side of the house outside of my boundary.

The one for study/bedroom upstairs will probably need to be either to the left or right of the upstairs window, top centre of the image.

Given all of this info, some questions;

1. What sort of price should I expect one outdoor unit + 2 indoor units to cost?

2. I am looking at something quality here in terms of noise, reliability etc, and I understand that to be either Daikin or Mitsubishi. If I also want smart features such as remote control via phone app or alexa control, is there any specific one I should be looking at? I read some can avoid blowing air on you as well, which sounds fun but also strange, not sure I need that!

3. I have outdoor power but it's just the basic outdoor power you can see near to the patio doors. Do these units need more power, or have I already got some of the problem solved by having some form of power outside for them to use?

4. Where should I situate the outdoor unit? in the corner where the house meets the wall seems like a reasonably obvious candidate, but does also mean that if it's too high up I'll see it through the window in the lounge, but I'd guess it is small enough to be reasonably unnoticeable if put quite low down.

fobose · 8 Jun 2020 at 19:21

Here are both my quotes (same AC firm) for 3x 2.5kw internal units and a 5.5kw outside unit. For some reason, the Mitsu was a lot less if I dropped my master bedroom. Maybe the Daikin outside unit is more expensive.

Mitsu:

Total installation cost: £3718.00 ex 5% Vat
To upgrade any wall mount to flag ship Zen amounts to £101.00 ex 5% Vat

To install the above WITHOUT master bedroom but having the 3-port outdoor unit to enable further installation
Total installation cost: £3018.00 ex 5% Vat
To upgrade any wall mount to flag ship Zen amounts to £101.00 ex 5% Vat

Daikin:

Total installation cost: £4019.00 ex 5% Vat
To upgrade any indoor wall Mount from FTX to flagship stylish amounts to £147.00 ex 5% Vat

To install the above WITHOUT master bedroom but having the 3-port outdoor unit to enable further installation
Total installation cost: £3418.00 ex 5% Vat

With regards to the power, the guy who quoted (and ended up doing part of the install) said I needed a 20A socket that they could spur from. Is your outside socket on the ring main or has it been spurred from a socket in your lounge?

Could you post another picture with what else is by your patio doors? I would say above your power socket might be an option but depends what else is there.

P.S been using mine loads. I would strongly advise to pay a bit more and get it in your master bedroom too.

CaptainRAVE · 8 Jun 2020 at 20:34

We’ve been using ours loads too. During the hot weather basically on all night on the night setting. Worth every penny.

HungryHippos · 9 Jun 2020 at 15:15

fobose said:
Here are both my quotes (same AC firm) for 3x 2.5kw internal units and a 5.5kw outside unit. For some reason, the Mitsu was a lot less if I dropped my master bedroom. Maybe the Daikin outside unit is more expensive.

Mitsu:

Daikin:

With regards to the power, the guy who quoted (and ended up doing part of the install) said I needed a 20A socket that they could spur from. Is your outside socket on the ring main or has it been spurred from a socket in your lounge?

Could you post another picture with what else is by your patio doors? I would say above your power socket might be an option but depends what else is there.

P.S been using mine loads. I would strongly advise to pay a bit more and get it in your master bedroom too.

Thanks very useful btw, I am thinking it best to have the unit as much out of the way as possible, not the worst things to look at, but if I can de-emphasis it a bit that makes sense to do.

I am wondering if I can leverage running the cables beneath the rendering, and use the guttering to make it's ascent. A bit like this, with X marking where the feeds roughly need to come in.

You requested a pic of nearer the sockets, this should cover that hopefully:

fobose · 9 Jun 2020 at 16:11

No probs, glad to help! @HungryHippos

If they can run your trunking like that it would look very neat. The trunking is 70mm width so should fit under there but there might be reason (unknown to me) why it can't go there. The condense pipes will need to come out near your down pipe no doubt. If you have a plug socket in your lounge near where you want the external AC unit to go, they may well run power from that.

Something that a few others mentioned about my install, you are not meant to have the external unit within 1m from your boundary so technically you would probably need planning permission for it to go on the wall. Is it your wall?

The other picture I was hoping for was a shot more to the left than your original picture, just to see what was opposite your patio doors and to see how wide your walk way / or patio (can't tell which from pic) is.

P.S the guys who did mine were very accommodating especially to last minute changes (before things were fitted of course). Things do not always go to plan where you might hope things will go (at least that was the way with my install).

norm · 9 Jun 2020 at 16:54

That location in blue would be the most practical for a dual head unit, you'd have a limited amount of trunking top and bottom, the condensate drain would feed into the gutter downpipe or track behind it and it's only really near to your landing window so limits any noise.

Where you planned to site it on the perimeter wall keep in mind you have to keep 2m infront of the compressor free, so you couldn't store anything there. Also the longer your pipe run the more cost.

HungryHippos · 9 Jun 2020 at 17:42

Thanks chaps, I have uploaded a small gallery:

https://imgur.com/a/6iH4Crv

That shows the full garden area a bit better, with the final pic being the other side of the wall.

It's a new build estate (2012 construction) so the area on the other side of the wall is "managed" by a management company, I was wondering if I could sit the unit on the other side of the wall and have the feeds coming in from the other side of the internal rooms, but I think there may be some objections if I did that.

My potential location is definitely not 1M from my boundary, but I would say with some safety that the wall would be considered mine, as per the last pic showing that there is no other interested parties on the other side of it.

The location @norm specified would fit within the criteria, but it would make a bit of a feature of it, could be an option though and would certainly keep any trunking lines short.

I am not totally convinced I am keeping the big planter at the rear long term, but it was too big to get rid of easily, so for now it's staying. Will want to rejig the garden a bit more generally sometime as the patio is not really well put down.

fobose · 9 Jun 2020 at 17:58

Actually I quite like like norm's idea. It might make it a bit of a feature on the wall but how often do you look up that high? The other option which would utilize the space would be in the corner by your kitchen door as that bit of area is wasted space anyway due to the steps on both your doors. You could have it mounted on feet too if you didn't want it mounted to your render. Would also mean you could easily add the master bedroom to it

Could the lounge's internal unit go on that side of the living room to save the trunking needing to go above the patio doors?

HungryHippos · 9 Jun 2020 at 18:10

Hmm by the corner could work, as you said wasted space, and the kitchen door only has the top half as glass so it wouldn't be visible at all unless in the garden.

Internally in the lounge, it's difficult to fit on that side of the patio doors I think.

Left of patio doors from inside lounge (nearer the corner on external shots):

For the other side of the patio doors, it's got a mirror on that wall, and the door opens into it as well, which I normally just leave open like that.

Ignore the fact my PC is in the lounge, this is just for lockdown really, I'll move it back upstairs when lockdown ends.