Ducted Air Conditioning Kareela

Local knowledge

Ducted in Kareela homes

Ducted in Kareela works with a roof that was built generous. The 1960s and 70s homes carry steep-pitched concrete-tile roofs with a cavity a technician can stand in, so a full-size fan coil sits above the hallway and rigid duct reaches every room without compromise. The design work is in the levels. On a split-level home the entry and living level, the bedroom level a half-flight up and the rumpus a half-flight down each get their own zone, the return air goes on the bedroom level where warm air collects, and the ducts run through the cavity that links the roof sections. Renovations that add a second storey get the system designed into the plans, with the new upper floor as its own zone and the sizing adjusted for the insulation and glazing that come with the rebuild.

The Kareela load is the western afternoon. The ridge is inland enough that the sea breeze is faint, and homes on the western side of the estate face the sun from early afternoon until it drops behind the Princes Highway ridge, so we give the west-facing living rooms a larger supply and zone them to run hard through the afternoon without the bedrooms following. Nights off the bush reserves are cold, so the reverse-cycle heating side is sized as seriously as the cooling. The condenser sits on a pad at the side of the house, on a bracket where the block falls away, and on the reserve-backed blocks it goes on the house side, raised off the ground and clear of the leaf litter, with the annual $349 service including a coil clean. Running the whole home on ducted costs roughly $1–$2 per hour here.