What shapes the job in Salisbury
A suburb of renters
42.2% of Salisbury's occupied homes were rented at the 2021 Census, 28.1% owned with a mortgage and 25.9% owned outright.
Shared walls are common
61.3% were separate houses, 23.9% semi-detached, row or terrace houses or townhouses, and 14.6% flats or apartments, averaging 2.8 bedrooms.
A wartime and post-war town
An explosives factory was set up at Penfield, 2 km north, in 1940, and the district's population doubled to more than 4000. From 1949 the South Australian Housing Trust built Salisbury North, mostly semi-detached 'maisonettes' of Mount Gambier limestone.
Still growing
Salisbury is about 22 km from the city and is the seat of the City of Salisbury, whose 2021 population of 145,806 was 32% up on 2001.
If you rent
A fixed split system is the owner's decision. Ask in writing, say which room and roughly where both units would go, and keep the reply. If the owner agrees, settle who arranges the installer and who the quote is made out to.
Semis, maisonettes and where the outdoor unit goes
On a semi-detached block, the neighbour's windows are rarely far away. South Australian law can treat air conditioner noise that reaches a neighbour's habitable room, courtyard or entertaining area as a local nuisance, so the quietest spot on your block matters more than the shortest pipe run.
In a solid limestone or brick wall, the pipe hole has to be cored. Ask the installer how and where the pipes will pass through, and whether a wall bracket or a ground stand suits your side of the building. Our page on brackets, covers and pumps explains the options.
Before an installer comes
You can
- Check the breaker and the remote batteries if an existing unit won't start.
- Clean the indoor filters, which Samsung says to do about every two weeks.
- Note where the neighbour's windows and outdoor areas are, so you can talk placement through on the day.
Leave to a licensed installer
- Coring walls, mounting brackets and running pipes.
- Handling refrigerant, which needs an ARC licence.
- A new circuit at the switchboard, which needs a licensed electrician.
What we'd do
Our take
For most Salisbury homes we'd start with one reverse cycle split in the room you use most, mounted where the outdoor unit faces your own yard rather than next door. In a rental, we'd get the owner's written yes before anyone quotes. A ducted system only makes sense in the larger separate houses, and even then a split in the living room is a good first step.
Tell us the job and your postcode. Licence-checked installers who handle this kind of work in the northern suburbs may see it, and the one who takes it is the only one who gets your details. Where we don't have someone yet, the form tells you at once.
