Ready to upgrade your older home?

Stop living without air conditioning! Brisbane can have hot days and nights throughout most of the year, so both aircon servicing of a current AC and aircon installation are two worthy investments that you can certainly benefit from to restore comfort to your home.

Having air conditioning installed in an older home can be trickier compared to installation in a more modern home (or as part of a new build).

The best way to find out if your home is adequate enough to have air conditioning installed is by contacting an air conditioning team in Brisbane – and reading this blog!

Got questions or want to book a consultation? Call Tri-Tech for ducted aircon in Brisbane on (07) 3394 0222.

Alternatively, if you live in a heritage-listed house and are wanting to uphold its significance and character, read this article about how you can install air conditioning without clashing with the architecture or aesthetic of your home.

Can central air conditioning be installed in an old house?

Most of the time, yes!

However, houses built in the 1960s and earlier in Australia may have little room in the floor, walls, or ceiling for ductwork.

This is because in the late 1960s, Australians started to have it installed into their homes, and by 1994, one quarter of us had a ducted system in our homes.

Therefore, when newer houses got built in the 1970s, space for ductwork started getting taken into consideration by builders.

If you’re unsure of:

What year your house was built in
If you have room for ducted air conditioning
Whether you want ducted air conditioning or a split system

Then speak to an air conditioning expert today.

Can you put central air in a house with no ductwork?

Central air conditioning and ducted air conditioning are the same thing.

They both refer to a HVAC system that uses large metal ducts to transfer heat across various rooms of your house through corresponding vents in rooms.

Therefore, central aircon isn’t going to work without ducts!

You also can’t install the ducts yourself, as a ducted air conditioning system also uses:

An outdoor compressor unit
An internal condenser unit in your roof
Electrical cables
Refrigerant that is potentially dangerous and can only be handled by someone with an ARC licence

Installing an AC isn’t as simple as just sourcing the ductwork; only a professional HVAC technician can safely install any type of air conditioning in your home or business.

Can you put AC in an old house?

Whether central or split air conditioning can be installed in your house depends on:

What system you want to install
Where the ducts will be placed
If you have room in your ceiling for the internal compressor
The condition of your electrical system

The latter is a primary component in considering air conditioning in an older home.

In such cases, these properties often have outdated switchboard or fuse boxes, a low tolerance for high currents, or old wiring.

You may think that split systems – which don’t use ducts, but pipelines instead – are best for your old home because they require less room, but make sure you check every component of your electrical system with an air conditioning expert so you can be sure!

Single split or mini-split air conditioning systems may be best for your old home as you can place these units in the most-used rooms in your home, without worrying about rooms that aren’t used as much, such as formal living spaces or spare bedrooms.

Split systems also have the indoor compressors mounted on your home’s inside walls, instead of inside your roof, so you don’t need to worry about how much ceiling room you have.

Using this split system air conditioner size calculator can help you to understand further how a split system air conditioning can fit in your home.

How can I keep my old house cool in the summer?

Old homes often have small rooms which retain heat easily and become extremely hot on sunny days.

You want to do everything you can to keep your house cool on a warm day. So here are three tips you can use to stay as cool as possible in your older home.

Use your awning shutters

Older homes commonly have awning shutters. This is because before air conditioning, households relied on awnings to keep their homes cool!

The best way to use these is to draw them well before the sun has risen – or better yet, the night before. This preventative measure can help keep your home cool during the day.

Awnings will only mitigate some of the heat and humidity in your rooms; they won’t provide you with gentle, breezy, air flow that lowers the temperature of your room like air conditioners do.

Open your windows and doors

Waking up early is a good trick for this simple hack as well! If your nights are cool, open up windows and doors (where possible, with a flyscreen!) and get some air circulating around your home.

However, this simple trick only works if the temperatures drop overnight. Warm nights are near impossible to sleep through, so in these cases, the only thing that has the power to ensure a comfortable and cool night’s sleep is air conditioning.

Install an air conditioning system

The most efficient way to cool down your rooms is with air conditioning installation in Brisbane.

Air conditioners are significantly more reliable at giving you cool air than opening a door or pulling down your awnings. You can also control the temperature with an AC system and adjust it to your liking.

Speak to Tri-Tech about what system will suit your home as we can also offer you due diligence to check for space and look at your electrical system too.

How do you add AC to an old house?

You call up an experienced air conditioning team like Tri-Tech!

The only way to achieve air conditioning installation in Brisbane South, North, or surrounds is through a reputable HVAC team like Tri-Tech.

We offer a range of air conditioning services throughout greater Brisbane, from air conditioning repairs in Coorparoo to maintenance and upgrades, servicing, including Mitsubihsi and Daikin aircon service.

Call Tri-Tech today to discuss your old home on (07) 3394 0222 or fill out this form to tell us a little about your project or goals.