The honest answer is that most Queensland homes end up with one of three setups: one or two split systems, a split in every main room, or a ducted system with zones. Which is right depends on how the house is built and how you live in it, not on which is "better".
Split systems
A wall-mounted indoor unit in one room with an outdoor unit nearby. Installed cost is the lowest of the options, running cost is low because you only cool the room you are in, and a failure only takes out one room. The downsides are visual (a unit on the wall in every room you want cooled) and practical (you cannot cool a hallway or a bathroom easily, and six indoor units mean six outdoor units or a multi-head system).
Right for: apartments, townhouses, small homes, rentals, homes where only the bedrooms and living area need cooling, and any home with no usable roof space.
Ducted systems
One indoor unit in the roof space feeding ducts to a vent in every room, with an outdoor unit outside. Zoning lets you shut off rooms you are not using, and modern controllers let you run it from your phone. Installed cost is higher, the roof space has to be big enough, and if the single unit fails the whole house is warm. Running cost is comparable to several splits if zoned well and higher if you cool the whole house all day.
Right for: new builds and major renovations, larger family homes, homes where you want cooling in every room without wall units, and anyone who values a quiet, invisible system.
What we check before recommending
- Roof space height and access. Many Queenslanders and low-pitch roofs cannot take a ducted unit.
- Switchboard capacity. Ducted systems and multiple splits may need a board upgrade, which we do in-house under our electrical licence.
- Orientation and glazing. West-facing rooms with big windows need more capacity than the floor area suggests.
- How you actually live. A couple who use three rooms do not need to cool eight.
Sizing
As a rough guide: 2.5kW for a bedroom, 3.5 to 5kW for a living area, 7kW or more for large open-plan rooms. Toowoomba and the hinterland need more heating capacity than the coast. An undersized unit runs flat out and fails early; an oversized one short-cycles and never removes humidity, which in Queensland is half the point. We size on site rather than from a table.
Brands
We install Daikin, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Fujitsu and Panasonic, and recommend based on the room, the budget and parts availability in South East Queensland. Every install is done under our ARCtick refrigerant licence and our electrical contractor licence, so the whole job is one crew and one warranty.
Ready for a number? Request a free written quote and we will measure the rooms and recommend.
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