Enfield, in facts
An 1843 village
George Hickox laid Enfield out in 1843 as 44 quarter-acre blocks, 8 km north of the city centre. It's in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield.
Post-war next door
In neighbouring Clearview, most early homes went up in the 1950s. Between 1950 and 1954 the Housing Trust imported 3,832 prefabricated timber houses from Britain and Germany, and Clearview was part of that program.
Old houses giving way
Many of Clearview's houses were built in the cheap post-war austerity style, and since the early 2000s some have been replaced by new houses and townhouses.
Homes and tenure
At the 2021 Census, 77.0% of Enfield's occupied homes were separate houses and 17.8% semis, row houses or townhouses, averaging 2.9 bedrooms. 40.1% were rented.
In an older house
Mitsubishi Electric says an air conditioner needs a dedicated power supply, because a shared circuit can overheat. In a house with its original switchboard, that's the first thing an installer should look at, and any new circuit is a job for a licensed electrician. Our page on electrical work for air conditioners explains what's involved.
Timber-framed and older brick walls each need a different approach to the pipe hole and the bracket. A good installer will tell you which wall they'd use and why, before they quote.
In a newer townhouse
Space is the issue. The outdoor unit often has to share a small courtyard with the neighbour's windows, or go on a wall or roof, and the condensate drain (the small pipe that carries water away from the indoor unit) needs somewhere to run. If the townhouse sits in a community or strata scheme, get the corporation's written approval before the work goes ahead. Apartments and strata covers that process.
What a good Enfield quote should spell out
- The unit's heating and cooling capacity in kW, and the room it was sized for.
- Whether a new circuit or switchboard work is included, and who does it.
- Exactly where the indoor and outdoor units go, and how the drain runs.
- The installer's ARC licence and RTA numbers.
- What's not included, like wall repairs or a ground stand.
What we'd do
Where we'd start
In an older Enfield house, we'd ask the installer to check the switchboard before talking models, then put a reverse cycle split in the main living area. In a newer townhouse we'd settle the outdoor unit's spot and the strata approval first, because those decide what can go in. Either way, one good split in the right room beats two in the wrong ones.
You give us the job and your postcode. Licence-checked local installers who do this work can look at it, and only the one who accepts the job gets your details. If nobody near Enfield takes it within 48 hours, installers elsewhere in South Australia may see it too.
