Rhonda Bracey: At Random

If you can say ‘warmth’, why can’t you say ‘coolth’? 😉

We bit the bullet and invested in whole-of-house reverse cycle ducted air conditioning for our home. Previously, we’d had two split system reverse cycle air conditioners — one in the living area and one in the office, but they couldn’t cope with sending that cool air into the main bedroom or anywhere outside those areas during the heat of summer, or warming the other areas in winter. And one of the units (10 years old) had had a condensate pump failure over Christmas.

The guys arrived yesterday to install the ducted system. There were about 6 guys (the ‘duct monkeys’) here including an electrician, and between them it took them eight hours from start to finish. It was a big job, and I can see why it’s far easier to install it when a house is being built than to retrofit it.

Our system is 6 zones with 9 outlets. Lots of cutting into ceilings had to be done, but the guys were professional every inch of the way — polite, listened, advised where necessary, positioned all outlets centrally so nothing looks out of place on the ceilings, worked well together, were a happy bunch, didn’t swear (that I could hear anyway), protected our wooden floors/property/possessions, cleaned up after themselves. I couldn’t have asked for a better team. And they turned up on time and with a great attitude.

I took quite a few ‘in progress’ photos. Needless to say, we’re currently enjoying the coolth in all parts of the house now 😉

Unpacking the truck:

Taping protective plastic over the wooden floors:

Cutting into the ceiling for one of the two the return air vents:

The ‘sandworms of Dune’:

The big behemoth on the concrete is the compressor unit; the one on the wall behind it (in the foreground) is the old split system unit, which I’m giving to a friend who has no air conditioning at all in her house:

The closest I’ll ever come to seeing what’s in the roof space:

The controller:

Figuring out how to get this big unit up into the ceiling space through the hole they cut:

Starting to look like our house again:

Yes, a zone and outlet for my sewing room!