Ducted Air Conditioning Wattle Grove

Local knowledge

Ducted in Wattle Grove homes

Ducted in Wattle Grove is a two-storey design job almost every time. The 1990s project homes have a tiled roof with a cavity above the first floor that takes the fan coil and the upstairs bedroom runs comfortably; the downstairs living, kitchen and family room are fed by drops through internal walls or a bulkhead along the hallway. We zone upstairs and downstairs separately as a minimum, and usually split the upstairs bedrooms from the main bedroom and the downstairs living from the rumpus, giving four to six zones so the family can cool the bedrooms alone at night and leave the empty ground floor off. Where the house has an original builder-era ducted system, we assess the duct runs and the return-air position and reuse what is sound, which is often the quickest way to bring the price down.

The heat driver here is the wide, dark tile roof and the west-facing upstairs glass, with 40°C afternoons and no breeze. Upstairs is always hotter, so the supply air is weighted to the bedrooms and the return is sized so the system can run long and low overnight rather than cycling hard. The outdoor unit goes in the side setback on the south or east side where it is out of the sun, on a hard stand with enough clearance from the fence to breathe, and on rubber mounts because the neighbour's bedroom is often only a couple of metres away. On the bush-edge streets it also gets ember mesh and a clear surround. Running cost is roughly $1–$2 per hour whole-home, and in winter the same system takes the chill off both floors on the cold clear mornings.