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Adelaide, South Australia

Heating and cooling in AdelaideBuilt for dry heat, ready for cold mornings.

An installer for Adelaide

Licence-checked installers in Adelaide who specialise in your kind of job see it, and the one who takes it calls you to quote.

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Adelaide needs air conditioning that copes with dry heat on a hot northerly and still warms the house on a July morning. Bureau of Meteorology averages at Kent Town put the January mean maximum at 30.0 degrees and the July mean minimum at 7.7, so most homes here lean on their system in both seasons. Tell us the job and your postcode. Licence-checked Adelaide installers who do that kind of work will see it, and only the one who takes it gets your contact details.

Why Adelaide's heat is different

The hottest days here arrive on northerly winds that carry hot air down from central Australia. Then a cool south-westerly change off the Southern Ocean can hold the next day in the low 20s. A system in Adelaide has to handle both, sometimes in the same week.

Hot spells can also run on. From 3 to 17 March 2008 the city had 15 days in a row of 35 degrees or more, and the record is 47.7 degrees, set on 24 January 2019. A unit that's sized at its limit, or overdue for a clean, tends to show it in a run like that.

The air is mostly dry when it's hot. Average afternoon humidity at Kent Town is 36% in January, which is why evaporative cooling still earns a place in Adelaide when it struggles on the humid east coast.

What's different about Adelaide homes

Heating and cooling, both

The national building code puts Adelaide in climate zone 5, warm temperate. July's mean minimum is 7.7 degrees at Kent Town and 7.4 at Adelaide Airport (1991 to 2020), so plan for winter as seriously as summer.

The hills run cooler

Belair, at 305 m in the south-eastern foothills, averages a January maximum of 26.7 degrees. Frosts are common in the valleys of the Adelaide Hills and rare elsewhere, so heating carries more weight up there.

Mostly houses, often single storey

At the 2021 Census, 75.0% of Greater Adelaide's occupied homes were separate houses and 8.2% were flats or apartments. The suburbs grew as single-storey houses on quarter-acre blocks, which usually means roof space for ducts and room outside for a unit.

Stone and double brick

Much of the early housing was bluestone, and most houses up to the 1970s were double brick. Later homes are mostly brick veneer on a slab. Your walls change where pipes can run and how much drilling an install takes.

Gas and power

Australian Gas Networks runs the gas network across greater Adelaide, and SA Power Networks distributes electricity to nearly 1 million homes and businesses in the state. For many households the real question is whether to keep servicing a gas heater or move to reverse cycle.

Neighbours and noise

South Australian law counts noise from fixed machinery at a home, an air conditioner for example, as a local nuisance if it carries into a habitable room, courtyard or outdoor entertaining area next door. On a tight block, where the outdoor unit goes really matters.

The jobs that come up most here, and why

Ducted reverse cycle suits the single-storey house with a roof over every room, and it heats as well as cools. A ducted specialist will look at the roof space and how you'd zone the house before talking about models. Ducted air conditioning in Adelaide goes into it.

Evaporative cooling is still a live choice because summer afternoons are dry. It doesn't heat, so it's usually paired with gas or reverse cycle heating. Evaporative cooling in Adelaide covers when it works and when it doesn't.

Split systems fit the bluestone cottage, the townhouse and the one hot bedroom at the back of the house. Repairs bunch up in heat runs, when every system is working its hardest at once, and gas heater services are worth booking before the first cold snap rather than during it.

What we'd do

Where we'd start

If we were replacing an old system in a single-storey Adelaide house, we'd get a ducted reverse cycle quote and an evaporative-plus-heating quote side by side, each from someone who does that kind of system every week. Dry heat suits both, and only one of them heats. In a smaller home or a stone cottage, we'd start with a split in the room you live in most and add from there.

How we help in Adelaide

We're a referral service, not an installer. Tell us what you need and your postcode, and local installers who specialise in that job can see it, with just your first name and suburb. Your contact details go to one of them, the one who takes the job, and we never sell them on. If nobody in your part of Adelaide takes it within 48 hours, installers elsewhere in South Australia may see it as well. Installers pay us per job, and you pay us nothing.

What this work looks like

Photos from real jobs in Melbourne, to show what the work looks like. They aren't from an installer near you.

Two linear slot diffusers across a living room ceiling
Two linear slot diffusers across a living room ceiling. Oct 2023. A job in Melbourne.
Lifting a new split system indoor unit into place
Lifting a new split system indoor unit into place. A job in Melbourne.
An evaporative cooler on a new home's roof
An evaporative cooler on a new home's roof. Oct 2023. A job in Melbourne.

More job photos

Heating and cooling jobs in Adelaide

Suburbs and areas around Adelaide

Questions people ask

Is evaporative cooling worth it in Adelaide?
It can be. CHOICE says evaporative coolers are most effective in hot, dry climates with low humidity, and January afternoons at Kent Town average 36% humidity. You'll need windows open while it runs, and a separate way to heat in winter.
Do I need heating as well as cooling in Adelaide?
Most homes do. The July mean minimum is 7.7 degrees at Kent Town, and frosts are common in the Hills valleys. A reverse cycle system covers both seasons from the one unit.
Is there an air conditioning rebate in South Australia?
Not one you apply for yourself. Under the Retailer Energy Productivity Scheme (REPS), obliged energy retailers support approved activities, and eligible households may be able to access them whoever their retailer is. Before agreeing to anything, ask the retailer to name the activity in writing. Our rebates guide has more.
Can my neighbour complain about my outdoor unit?
Yes. In South Australia, aircon noise that reaches a habitable room or outdoor living area next door can be a local nuisance. Ask your installer to keep the outdoor unit away from your neighbours' windows and courtyard.
Who's allowed to install air conditioning in SA?
Anyone handling refrigerant needs an ARC licence, which is national. South Australian electrical and contractor licences apply on top, and we couldn't confirm those details at the source, so ask for every licence number. Our licence guide explains how to check.

Ready for the right installer to take a look in Adelaide?

Your postcode and three quick questions. Licence-checked local installers who specialise in your kind of job see it, and the one who takes it gets in touch to quote.

Free for you. Installers pay us for each job we pass on.

Read next

  1. 01Heating and cooling in South AustraliaWhat we could confirm in SA: the licences to ask for, how REPS offers reach you, and the noise test.
  2. 02Evaporative or refrigerated cooling?How each kind of cooling works, why humidity matters, and what each one needs from your home.
  3. 03Split systems or ducted?House size, the rooms you use, zoning and efficiency: how to pick between splits and ducted.
  4. 04Heating and cooling rebates by stateWhat we could confirm in each state, how each scheme reaches you, and the warning signs.
  5. 05Aircon noise rules and neighboursQuiet hours, decibel limits by state, and how to place an outdoor unit so the neighbours don't notice.
  6. 06Air conditioner size calculatorA rough kW size from your room's measurements, and what that number leaves out.

Where this information comes from

We don't publish prices. Every home is different, so an installer's written quote is the only real number. How we write and check these pages.

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