Ducted Air Conditioning Austral

Local knowledge

Ducted in Austral homes

Ducted in Austral is two different jobs. On the new estate homes it is the familiar two-storey design: fan coil near the upstairs hatch in a shallow truss cavity, insulated duct to each bedroom, a return air in the upstairs hall, and the ground floor fed through a hallway bulkhead, zoned upstairs and downstairs so the bedrooms can run alone at night. On a 1970s brick farmhouse it is the opposite: a tall roof with room to move, rigid duct runs without compromise, outlets in every room and the zones set by how the family actually lives, which is often living and main bedroom during the day and the kids wing at night. The long house on a wide block means longer duct runs, and we plan the fan coil position to keep them balanced rather than starving the far bedrooms.

Austral gets both extremes, so the system is sized for a frosty July morning as much as a 40°C January afternoon, and we specify reverse-cycle units with good low-temperature heating rather than something that only shines in summer. The condenser goes on a raised pad or bracket clear of dust and mower spray on acreage, or a slim unit in the setback on an estate lot with the discharge angled off the neighbour, and on either it is positioned so the coil can be hosed down easily because construction dust here is a fact of life for years yet. Running cost is roughly $1–$2 per hour whole-home, and with one zone running most of the time the bill in a well-sized Austral home comes in below what the same house would spend on plug-in heaters and a couple of window units.