Air conditioning installation, done properly

What a multi-split actually is

A multi-split connects one outdoor unit to several indoor units — wall-mounted units in the bedrooms, living room, kitchen, home office, wherever you need comfort. Each room has its own remote and its own temperature, but there’s only one box outside, one electrical supply, and one system to maintain.

Every system I fit is an inverter heat pump: it cools in summer, heats efficiently in winter, and modulates its output instead of switching on and off — which is why modern systems are so quiet and so cheap to run.

Designed around your home, not a brochure

The difference between an install that hums along for fifteen years and one that struggles is the design. At the survey I size each room properly — floor area, glazing, aspect, insulation — and match the outdoor unit to the real total load. Oversized systems short-cycle and dehumidify badly; undersized ones run flat out and die young. Right-sized is the whole job.

• Room-by-room sizing — not a guess from the doorstep.
• Outdoor unit placement — quiet, discreet, serviceable, and within permitted development rules wherever possible.
• Pipe runs kept short — in a bungalow, usually a few metres. Shorter runs mean higher efficiency and less refrigerant.
• Indoor units where they work — positioned for airflow across the room, not just where the wall is empty.

The unglamorous parts, done right

The parts you’ll never see are the parts that decide whether a system lasts. Every installation gets a nitrogen pressure test to prove the pipework is tight, a deep vacuum to remove every trace of moisture and air, torque-checked flare joints, properly supported pipework, and condensate drainage with real fall — not a horizontal pipe and hope.

You get the commissioning readings in your handover pack, so any engineer who ever services the system knows exactly how it left my hands.

Single splits too

If you only need one room conditioned — a bedroom, a conservatory, a home office — a single split is the right answer and I’m happy to quote for one. But if there’s any chance you’ll want a second room done later, it’s worth talking about a multi-split now: the survey costs nothing and the comparison is usually eye-opening.