Ducted Air Conditioning Chipping Norton

Local knowledge

Ducted in Chipping Norton homes

Ducted suits Chipping Norton because the 1980s brick veneer homes are so regular: three or four bedrooms grouped down one side, a lounge at the front, a family room and kitchen at the back, and a pitched concrete tile roof with a cavity that takes a fan coil and rigid ducting comfortably. We zone it as bedrooms, front living and rear family so the bedroom zone can run alone through the night, and where a rumpus or an enclosed patio has been added it gets its own outlet. Ceilings in these homes are usually high enough for a full-size fan coil, and the manhole is often in the hallway right where we want it. On the two-level rebuilds facing the lakes, the upper floor and the ground floor become separate zones with the fan coil in the top roof and drops to the living level below.

The design driver is heat by day and damp stillness by night. The outdoor unit goes on the south or east side of the house on a raised slab, out of the western sun and clear of the damp ground near the lakes, with enough clearance from the fence to draw air freely. Because the humid evenings are the real complaint here, the return air is sized generously so the system runs long and gentle rather than cycling hard, which is what brings the moisture down and makes 25°C feel like 25°C. In the townhouse complexes the same idea applies with a compact condenser on a wall bracket to keep the courtyard usable. Running cost is roughly $1–$2 per hour whole-home, and on the foggy winter mornings the same system heats the bedrooms before anyone gets up.