Air conditioning installation, usually done in a day

A split system air conditioning installation puts one slim unit on the wall inside and one small box outside, joined by a short run of pipework. That is the whole job. No ducting through the loft, no rebuild of the room, just a wall you can point at and a day on the calendar.

We fit them the same way whether the wall belongs to a bedroom in Kings Heath or a retail unit at the Bullring: correct pipe sizing, a proper vacuum before the gas goes in, and nothing left for you to find wrong later.

What actually happens on the day

Before we start
Dust sheets down, furniture and floors protected, and a quick walk-through of exactly where the indoor unit and the outdoor box are going.
While we’re in
One core hole through the wall, roughly the size of a ten pence piece, then the pipe run out to the outdoor unit, sited somewhere you’d have to go looking for it.
Before we leave
Everything commissioned and tested, holes made good, hoovered up behind us. A single room is usually done in a day, start to finish.

A living room part-way through an installation, with dust sheets over the floor and sofa, a fibreglass step ladder, a tool bag and the indoor unit already on the wall — Dust sheets down before anything else. The room goes back the way we found it, hoovered, before we leave.

More than one room, while we’re already there

The van, the tools and the day are already booked. A second room costs far less than us coming back separately to do it another day, so a bedroom and a home office, or a kitchen and a living room, is worth mentioning on the call even if you’re only sure about one of them.

An open-plan kitchen, dining and living space with two separate wall-mounted air conditioning units, one at each end — Two units in one open-plan room, one at each end. A space this long is rarely one unit's work, and doing both in a day costs far less than two visits.

You are buying a heater as well, and nobody mentions it

What we fit is a heat pump. Most of the summer it is pulling heat out of a room to cool it down, and in winter it runs in reverse and pulls warmth in instead. Same box doing the opposite job, same remote, one button.

Because it moves heat rather than burning something to make it, it puts out more warmth than the electricity it draws. That is the part almost nobody knows, and it is why the unit you wanted for a hot fortnight in July ends up being the thing warming a home office through February.

In the rooms it serves it can do the job the radiators were doing, and a lot of people end up leaving the heating off in those rooms entirely. It will not heat your water, so a boiler or cylinder still has the taps and the shower — worth knowing before anybody promises you it replaces everything.

It runs on electricity rather than gas, so it gets cleaner every year the grid does, and because it moves heat instead of making it, it does more with each unit it uses than an electric heater ever could.

A loft conversion office with a sloped ceiling and rooflight — A loft office and a box room: two of the rooms we’re most often called back to add a second time round.

A small box room set up as a home office — A loft office and a box room: two of the rooms we’re most often called back to add a second time round.

What people ask before they book

Do I need planning permission?: For an ordinary house, almost always no. Flats, listed buildings and conservation areas can be different, and so can a front elevation facing a road. We check your address before quoting rather than after taking a deposit.
How long does the installation take?: One room is usually a day, start to finish, tested and running before we leave. More than one room takes longer, and we tell you how much on the call rather than discovering it on the morning.
How much mess does it make?: One core hole through the wall, about the size of a ten pence piece, plus the pipe run. Dust sheets go down first, the holes are made good, and we hoover before we leave.
Where does the outdoor unit go?: Somewhere you would have to go looking for it: round the side, at the back, low on a wall or standing on feet. It needs clear air around it to work, so the one place it cannot go is boxed in.
Can you fit it in a flat?: Usually yes. The thing to sort first is whether the freeholder or management company needs to sign off the outdoor unit, and that is something we help you work out before the quote.
Can you do more than one room?: Yes, and it is worth saying even if you are only sure about one. A second room while the van and the tools are already there costs far less per room than us coming back another day.

The side passage of a brick house, with a small air conditioning unit mounted low on the wall and barely noticeable — This is where the outdoor box usually ends up. You have to go looking for it.

What we fit, and why it is only three names

Mitsubishi Electric, LG and Daikin. Krown is a certified installer for all three, and there is no fourth on the list on purpose.

Three manufacturers is enough to have the right machine for a loft office and for a through-lounge, and few enough that Kevin knows the quirks of each one, carries the parts, and has somebody technical to ring when a job is unusual. Sticking to three is how that stays true.

Which of the three ends up on your wall is a conversation on the call. It comes down to the room, the noise you can live with outside, and what the space actually needs.

Answer five quick questions, we’ll ring you with your price

We’ll ring you back within two hours.Mon to Sat, 10am to 6pm. Outside those hours, first thing the next working day.

Get your price or call us