Air Conditioning Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. As well as being the UK’s leading installers, we also have the largest range of portable air conditioning units. If we are carrying out an installation for you, we can provide mobile hire units at a reduced rate.

However large or small the project, it will be fully managed by our experienced supervisors or senior engineers. We do not compromise on the quality of supervision, whether we fit one unit or 100 units.

This is dependent upon the size of the installation and will vary from property to property. For example, in a conservation area, it is necessary to have Local Authority permission. Alternatively, you may require permission from your Landlord if you do not own your property. We always recommend that the Landlord and/or Local Authority is informed of your intention to fit air conditioning and that you receive written authorisation confirming they have no objections. We can assist you by providing drawings and technical details when you apply to your Local Authority or Landlord.

We are happy to provide installations during evenings or on weekends. However, the cost would be greater than for an installation during normal working hours. Please let us know if you have any time constraints or restrictions on working hours, and we will advise you accordingly.

This depends on both the complexity and size of the installation; it could vary from a single day to several weeks for larger commercial installations. We will, however, give you an indication of how long the installation will take when we provide you with our quotation. As a rule of thumb, each individual unit takes approximately one to one and a half days to install.

When you give us the ‘go ahead’ we order the equipment immediately. In most cases, we can have the units fully installed within two weeks. Please note that as with all weather-related industries, lead times can vary according to demand.

Evaporative cooling systems lower the temperature of enclosed domestic and commercial properties through the evaporation of water molecules that have previously absorbed the heat from the air. To learn more about evaporative cooling click here.

Daikin and Mitsubishi Electric are acknowledged market leaders and come with our own warranty of up to ten years. However, we will also offer the same level of warranty on Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Gree air conditioners as these units provide an equivalent level of reliability at a lower price. To learn more about air conditioning manufacturers click here.

To install an air conditioner, you must be a qualified air conditioning engineer with an F-Gas certificate. We are often called out to sites to fix units that have been incorrectly installed. DIY installations or even installations by qualified builders without the necessary expertise in air conditioning invariably end up costing much more in the long run with wasted time and materials.

We install all the leading brands of air conditioners including Daikin, the Mitsubishi brands, Fujitsu and Gree for which we offer a warranty of up to ten years. We can also install other brands upon request. We do not install cheaper brands because, in our experience, they are not reliable and invariably end up costing our customers more in the long term.

An air conditioning unit is designed only to cool the room for which it has been specified; leaving inter-leading doors or windows open will reduce its effectiveness.

Fitted air conditioners are designed to bring the room down to a comfortable temperature. A correctly specified unit should be capable of cooling a room by 8 – 10°C lower than the outside ambient temperature.

Please note that if you are trying to cool a room to low temperatures, then you may require specialist refrigeration equipment rather than air conditioners.

Most fitted systems require an outside condenser box. There are some specialist units that can be used when this is not possible. Ask our expert team about ‘water cooled’ systems or our all-in-one air conditioners.

Fitted air conditioners are exceptionally quiet. They generate a soft fan sound that many people are able to sleep through without disturbance.

The type of units that we install do not contain standing water and are therefore not at risk of causing Legionnaires disease. We cannot, however, comment in respect of any existing systems you may have in your property.

All of our systems comply with Health & Safety regulations as does all documentation that we supply. Our Fitted Air Conditioning department will produce all required Method Statements and Risk Assessments for installations and for any service or repair works for which we have quoted. This documentation would be made available upon receipt of an official order or Letter of Intent to carry out the works.

We only sell products from brand leaders in the air conditioning field which are expected to last for many years. To maintain this longevity, it is essential that the equipment is subject to routine maintenance and servicing. The market is unfortunately flooded with cheap devices, which has often been ‘dumped’ in the UK – this equipment is inevitably specified in cheaper quotations. We do not deal with these inferior products, nor with ‘budget brand’ equipment as we have found these systems to be unreliable and more expensive in the long term.

The equipment we install makes use of the latest inverter technology and are, accordingly, extremely efficient. The government even offer incentives to install our air conditioners; residential customers only have to pay 5% VAT due to the excellent energy efficiency they offer. Most units we install carry an A++ efficiency rating.

Virtually all modern air conditioners provide heating as well as cooling. They are also an extremely efficient and cost-effective means of providing heating. Also, systems that provide heating will qualify for a reduced VAT charge (5% for residential use). This is an ideal scenario when building an extension to a property as there is no need to extend the existing central heating system into the new area.

To install an air conditioner you must be a qualified air conditioning engineer with an F-Gas certificate. We are often called out to sites to fix units that have been incorrectly installed. DIY installations or even installations by qualified builders without the necessary expertise in air conditioning invariably end up costing much more in the long run with wasted time and materials.

Yes and no. For commercial entities we are able to recommend leasing options for 3-5 year deals.

Unfortunately, we cannot lease to domestic customers.

All units, parts and workmanship, are covered by a minimum one-year warranty. A guarantee of up to ten years is, however, available on all systems that The Air Conditioning Company installs provided that you have a planned maintenance program in place, and the units are serviced accordingly.

There are various reasons why your system is leaking water.

The condensate that is produced in the coils on the indoor part of your system should fall into a drip tray which is either drained away by gravity or pumped outside.

If excess water is finding its way down your wall then it’s more than safe to assume that much or all of the condensate is not being drained away.

Sometimes the drain hole might clog up with dirt, so the water obviously finds the easiest route to drain away which can’t be anything other than down your wall! However, if the condensate is being drained away with help from a pump, then there is every probability that the pump may have failed and this will obviously need replacing quickly. So often we find that the coils in the system have been so caked up with dirt that it has ended up blocking the unit drainage system.

A leak can be caused by something as simple as a dislodged drainage pipe, making the water drain upwards, which, of course, eventually flows back into the unit and down your wall. In this case, it’s a simple matter of correcting the angle of the drainage pipe.

Finally, and in more serious cases, should the system have leaked a large quantity of refrigerant, this will cause the coils on the indoor unit to “ice up” which will also result in leakage when the ice melts. If you do see ice on the coils, it is vital to switch the unit off immediately and call your air conditioning engineer.

Finally, and I’m sorry to hammer the point home as I have in our other videos, but so many of these problems would not happen if your unit was regularly maintained.