Split system installation for apartments, with the owners corporation on side

In most Melbourne apartment buildings the external walls and the balcony surface are common property, or sit on a boundary the owners corporation controls. Fixing an outdoor unit to them, or drilling through them, needs the owners corporation to agree. A complete application from an installer who has done it before tends to get a straight answer; a one-line email tends to stall.

What the committee or the manager usually wants: the make and model of the outdoor unit with its sound rating, a sketch or photo showing where it will sit and where the pipes will run, how the wall penetration will be sealed, where the condensate will drain, and confirmation that licensed trades are doing the work and that the installer carries insurance. Some buildings also have a preferred position or a colour for the duct cover, and a few have a standard application form.

What we supply. The unit specification sheet, a placement photo marked up on the day of the quote, a short method statement for the penetration and the drain, our public liability and business insurance details, and confirmation that the work is done by licensed electricians and ARC-licensed technicians. You submit it, or we send it to your building manager on your behalf. We cannot promise the outcome, because it is their decision, but a complete application is the difference between a quick answer and a long stall.

If you rent, you need the landlord’s written consent as well as the owners corporation’s. We give you the same pack for both.

On the balcony. The most common Melbourne apartment layout, and the one many newer buildings are designed for. The condenser sits on a low stand or rubber feet in the corner, out of the walkway, with clear airflow in front of it. Newer towers often have a marked condenser position with a drain point beside it; older buildings do not, and the drain has to be planned. A compact outdoor unit is chosen for the space, and vibration pads keep the hum off the slab so it does not travel to the apartment below.

On the external wall. Where the balcony is too small or the rules forbid floor-mounted units, a rated bracket on the balcony wall or an approved section of external wall carries the unit. Height, access for servicing and what the unit looks like from the street all come into the owners corporation conversation.

Noise to the neighbours. A balcony condenser is often two metres from someone else’s bedroom window. We choose units with a low outdoor sound rating, position them so the fan blows away from the neighbouring balcony, and set them on isolation pads. That is what stops a complaint, and it is what the committee is really asking about when it asks about noise.

Condensate. Water off a balcony edge onto the apartment below is the fastest way to lose an approval. The drain goes to the balcony floor waste, a planter drain or a dedicated outlet, never over the edge.

An apartment has no roof cavity to hide pipes in. The refrigerant lines, drain and cable have to go through the external wall and along it in a duct cover, which is why the shortest run wins.

Back-to-back through the balcony wall is the layout most apartments end up with: the indoor head on the inside of the wall that faces the balcony, the outdoor unit on the balcony directly behind it, and a single penetration a few metres long. It is quick, tidy and easy to approve.

Core drilling. That penetration goes through concrete, precast panel or double brick, not plasterboard, so it is core-drilled with a diamond bit rather than hole-sawed. The hole is sized for the pipe bundle, sleeved, sealed against weather and fire-sealed where the building requires it. We check for services first and photograph the finished penetration inside and out.

When the head cannot go on the balcony wall. A bedroom on the far side of the apartment means a longer run through the living area or along an external wall, and in some buildings that is not allowed. A multi-head split with one balcony condenser and two or three heads is often the answer, and we cover it on the multi-head page. Where nothing on the walls is possible, a bulkhead unit is a different job and a different quote.

The electrical side is the same as a house: a dedicated circuit from the apartment’s switchboard, an isolator at the outdoor unit, and a licensed electrician doing all of it.

1960s and 1970s brick walk-ups. Solid brick or double brick walls, no cavity, sometimes a concrete ceiling, often a through-wall box unit in a rough hole from decades ago. The good news is the wall is easy to core-drill and the balconies are usually generous. The old box unit comes out, the hole is bricked or panelled and the new head goes beside it. Our replacement page covers removing the old one properly.

2000s onward towers. Some have a pre-wired condenser position on the balcony, a capped refrigerant pipe stub in the wall and a drain point, which makes the job a straightforward connection. Others have strict rules on unit size, colour and position, and a building manager who has seen every mistake. We ask for the building rules before we quote.

Townhouses and low-rise strata. Usually a side wall rather than a balcony, and an owners corporation that is a handful of neighbours. The paperwork is lighter but the noise and placement questions are the same.

Before you call, find out: whether your building has a standard air conditioning application form, whether there is a marked condenser position, and who the building manager or strata manager is. With those three answers the office can give you a free estimate and start the approval pack the same day. The firm price is confirmed before any work, and you pay after the job.