Ducted reverse cycle air conditioning in Melbourne, sized and zoned for how you live

Melbourne calls it refrigerated cooling, the brochures call it ducted reverse cycle, and your neighbour calls it ducted heating and cooling. It is one system. An outdoor unit on a slab beside the house, a fan coil unit hung in the roof space, insulated flexible ducts running to an outlet in the ceiling of every room, a return air grille in the hallway that pulls the air back to be treated again, and a controller on the wall. In winter the refrigerant cycle runs one way and the outlets blow warm. In summer it runs the other way and the same outlets blow cold.

That is what makes it different from the gas ducted heating so many Melbourne homes were built with. A gas heater does one job for six months and sits idle for the other six while an evaporative cooler or a pair of splits handles summer. A ducted reverse cycle system does both from one set of ducts, one outdoor unit and one power bill. Because it moves heat rather than burning fuel to make it, each unit of electricity delivers several times the heat a plug-in electric heater would.

Our ducted versus split system guide covers when a house full of splits is the better answer. For most three and four bedroom Melbourne homes with a usable roof space, ducted is.

A new install is a home with nothing ducted in it: a period weatherboard heated by wall units, a renovated brick veneer with splits in two rooms, an extension with the ceiling still open. The roof space is measured for the fan coil, the duct runs are planned so no outlet is starved at the end of a long run, and the outdoor unit goes where it is quiet for you and for the neighbour.

A changeover is a home with a gas ducted heater. The heater comes out of the roof or from under the floor, the gas line is capped by a licensed gasfitter, and the fan coil goes in its place. This is the job with the Victorian Energy Upgrades discount attached, and our replace gas ducted heating page walks through the conditions.

The ducts are the honest part. The program guidance for gas-to-reverse-cycle changeovers recommends new ductwork and fittings, and we agree. Gas heating pushes very warm air through smaller ducts; reverse cycle moves more air at a gentler temperature and wants larger, better sealed runs. We inspect every duct, photograph it and tell you which can stay and which cannot. Underfloor gas ducts in a 1970s brick veneer are the runs we most often end up replacing, and we say so only after looking.

Two other paths belong here. An evaporative to refrigerated conversion takes the roof unit off and assesses the drops for reuse. Add-on cooling puts a cooling coil onto a gas heater you are keeping; it is cooling only, so no VEU discount applies.

Sizing. Capacity is worked out from the floor area you want conditioned, the ceiling height, the glass and which way it faces, the insulation in the ceiling and walls, and how many rooms will run at once. A 1920s Californian bungalow with three metre ceilings and no wall insulation needs more than a 2010 estate home of the same floor area. Our ducted reverse cycle sizing guide explains the capacity bands, and our ducted reverse cycle cost guide explains what moves a quote up or down. We do not print prices on this page; the office gives you a firm figure for your house.

Zoning. A zone is a group of outlets with its own motorised damper, switched from the controller. Living areas by day, bedrooms at night, the study when someone is working from home. Most homes suit two to four zones. Running only the rooms in use is where the running cost comes down, and it is also what lets a sensibly sized unit do the job instead of an oversized one. Our zoning guide covers the controllers and the options.

Two storeys. Heat rises, so upstairs bakes in summer and downstairs freezes in winter. One well zoned system with the fan coil in the upper roof space and drops to the ground floor works for many two-storey estate homes. A large footprint or a long single-storey wing sometimes calls for two smaller systems. The office asks before anyone guesses.

We install Daikin, ActronAir, Mitsubishi Electric, Fujitsu, Panasonic and Samsung ducted systems. Each brand page covers who the range suits, which Melbourne homes it fits and what to ask before you choose.

The honest answer to the question everyone asks: the difference between a good job and a bad one is the sizing, the ductwork and the commissioning, far more than the badge on the outdoor unit. All six make reliable inverter ducted systems. Where they differ is in the zoning controllers, the fan coil heights available for a shallow roof, the outdoor unit footprint, and how the controller feels to use every day.

What to ask. Is the unit listed for the Victorian discount if you are replacing gas? What is the manufacturer warranty, as the manufacturer prints it? What fan coil height fits your roof pitch? Which controller, and does it do zones on its own or with an add-on module? We answer all four on the call, and if you already have a brand in mind we will tell you whether it suits the house or whether something else would do the job better.