Aircon Placement in a new House

[RAZZELL]

My wife has bought a new house and they are about to fit the aircon units (we are not in Thailand at the moment)

Coming from the UK I obviously have absolutely no idea about them!

Is there a specific place they need to be put on a room?

Can the compressors be put on the side of the house easily enough?

Do they have to be put directly opposite where the interior aircon unit will be?

The guy who did some plans has put the aircon with the compressors on an exterior balcony - obviously this will look messy and get in the way when you want to use the balconies - I would much rather have them on the side of the house on brackets.

Just seeing if he just trying to make life easier for himself.

The first pic is "an either or placement".

The second is what I am worried about - the bedrooms and balcony.

Many thanks all aircon experts!

RAZZ

Edited January 18, 2016 by RAZZELL

[RAZZELL]

Is this perfectly fine?

[johng]

You can have the compressors anywhere you want ( within reason, best to avoid very long runs of coolant pipe ) but a large majority are put on balconies it does have advantages of easier to clean/service and protects from the rain and sun.

[RAZZELL]

Thanks for that.

So looking at my diagram above is it better to have them on the balcony or on the side of the house? Obviously, the eves of the roof would protect them from the elements a little.

It is just they are such an eyesore.

RAZZ

Edited January 18, 2016 by RAZZELL

[Gsxrnz]

Best to have the compressors (as much as is possible in Thailand) in the shade. On the wall is better - I hate sharing a balcony with a hot and noisy compressor.

Pay careful attention to where you are going to place the beds in relation to the indoor units.

Don't have them immediately above the bed - too noisy. Don't have them facing the bed - too cold, as in you get immediate effect of the unit coming on. Best to have them to the side, so they air bounces off the opposite wall and you get a better "ambient" feeling, and don't feel rapid changes in temperature.

Re your house - make sure you have properly researched and installed the appropriate ceiling insulation and venting.

[RAZZELL]

Best to have the compressors (as much as is possible in Thailand) in the shade. On the wall is better - I hate sharing a balcony with a hot and noisy compressor.

Pay careful attention to where you are going to place the beds in relation to the indoor units.

Don't have them immediately above the bed - too noisy. Don't have them facing the bed - too cold, as in you get immediate effect of the unit coming on. Best to have them to the side, so they air bounces off the opposite wall and you get a better "ambient" feeling, and don't feel rapid changes in temperature.

Re your house - make sure you have properly researched and installed the appropriate ceiling insulation and venting.

Good stuff...

So is there any problem with having the aircon units as per "their" diagram but putting the aircon units on the exterior walls?

I just don't want them on the baclony? How far and how do they run the coolant pipes?

RE: the house - Bit late - it's already built

RAZZ

Edited January 18, 2016 by RAZZELL

[trogers]

Best to have the compressors (as much as is possible in Thailand) in the shade. On the wall is better - I hate sharing a balcony with a hot and noisy compressor.

Pay careful attention to where you are going to place the beds in relation to the indoor units.

Don't have them immediately above the bed - too noisy. Don't have them facing the bed - too cold, as in you get immediate effect of the unit coming on. Best to have them to the side, so they air bounces off the opposite wall and you get a better "ambient" feeling, and don't feel rapid changes in temperature.

Re your house - make sure you have properly researched and installed the appropriate ceiling insulation and venting.

Good stuff...

So is there any problem with having the aircon units as per "their" diagram but putting the aircon units on the exterior walls?

I just don't want them on the baclony? How far and how do they run the coolant pipes?

RE: the house - Bit late - it's already built

RAZZ

Max coolant pipe length for rotary compressors are 12m.

[RAZZELL]

Max coolant pipe length for rotary compressors are 12m.

How do they run them through the wall if not directly opposite where the compressor will be?

Sorry to sound like an imbecile - I just about know how to use an aircon remote!

RAZZ

[sandyf]

The compressor can be a bit away, certainly further than you are proposing. I was in a hotel recently where the compressors for the ground floor rooms were down in the underground car park.

I would agree that you do not want them on a balcony as they spew out hot air. I would assume that there will be a path at ground level against the wall between the balconies, normal Thai construction. They would be able to sit on that, that is how mine are done. Makes it much easier for installation and servicing.

If there is no path proposed, I would suggest that you get it done, you do not want earth against the walls. The path is normally sloped so the rain runs away from the walls. In really torrential rain, it can come down at quite an angle.

You need to be careful with the one that appears to be above the pillows. My bedroom is like that and I got an insect wing in my eye that had come from the AC. We moved the bed out a bit.

[sandyf]

Max coolant pipe length for rotary compressors are 12m.

How do they run them through the wall if not directly opposite where the compressor will be?

Sorry to sound like an imbecile - I just about know how to use an aircon remote!

RAZZ

They will put them through the wall behind the internal unit and then run them along the outside wall.

[RAZZELL]

Yes, don't want horrendous plastic trunking everywhere either.

RAZZ

[johng]

Another thing to watch out for is that they install the condensation water pipe properly otherwise you'll soon have cold water flooding down the inside of your bedroom wall ...so check the angle of the pipe that its not installed to flow "uphill" and that they put in a P trap to stop critters crawling in and nesting.

[sandyf]

Yes, don't want horrendous plastic trunking everywhere either.

RAZZ

Looking at the drawing again it looks like 2 of the balconies are non functional, no way out, so there wouldn't be a problem with those.

It is just the bedroom on the right hand side.

[Gsxrnz]

The compressors can be mounted on an exterior wall on "L" brackets. All mine are done like that and never hear any vibration. Just make sure they use rubber insulating washers on the base of the compressor. I know some installers also install a rubber gasket between the L bracket and the wall, but probably not necessary.

Looking at your diagrams, they can easily have all the trunking done externally at a high level (upstairs) to void looking too bad on your balconies. Change that bedroom that has the indoor unit at the head of the bed to the west wall so that the pipes can go straight out.

Make them paint the trunking to blend in with the house.

As somebody said, make sure they have a spirit level to ensure the overflow doesn't try and defy gravity and has a P trap.

Also, see where they plan to terminate the overflow pipe - nothing worse than having it drip on your head while on your balcony having a smoke. So make sure they run the pipe (neatly) to an appropriate location. Make them paint that as well.

[imjmn]

You can always mount them at an elevated position in the balcony area. This will provide for ease of service in the future. Another option that I used was to stack them vertically to minimize the foot print on the balcony. As noted longer runs lead to less efficiency and placement out of the direct sunlight is preferable. That said my bedroom is in the direct sun in the morning but I don't sleep in so it is in the shade in the afternoon.

Also it is best to make sure they use stainless steel or galvanized fasteners - a couple of baht more but less maintenance in the future.

MJ

Edited January 19, 2016 by imjmn

[jimmybkk]

Keep in mind that if the blower unit (the bit inside the room) is fitted to an exterior wall, particularly one that is exposed to direct sunlight, you will be regularly having to adjust the temperature. The thermostat for the air-con is located within the blower unit and so if your blower unit is on a wall that gets the sun the thermostat will pick up the heat radiated through the wall as well as the ambient air temperature in the room. On a bright sunny day, having your air-con set at 24C will actually create a temperature in the room of below 24C, and as the sun sets the temperature in the room will slowly increase until at some point in the evening it reaches 24C, which, if you've been sitting in the same room at 22C all day will start to feel a little warm and humid. That's what happens in my office anyway... Maybe less important if you have double skin walls in your house.

[kamalabob2]

If you have 7,5 cm or thicker AAC Q-Con type interior walls you can install the a/c units facing where you wish inside a room. The a/c piping can run in the Hebel type blocks to outside where you place your compressor. Keeping the compressor in the shade as much as possible will serve you well. I put downstairs compressors on some 2nd floor balconies. Those darn balconies NEVER get used as they are too far from the kitchen. 12 meters maximum distance was also told to me in 2007. Our AAC light weight blocks were rendered AFTER the a/c pipes and all speaker cables, electric wires and RG6 copper cable was installed in conduit. The higher up a wall the more of a challenge for the a/c service team to properly clean your compressor in my observation.