Why units in Lismore need more attention
Water hanging in the air
Humidity in Lismore often reaches 100% in summer, and the urban area is unusually humid next to the surrounding country. Afternoon averages at the Centre Street station are 58% in January and 61% in February.
Cooling does the heavy lifting
The building code labels Lismore climate zone 2: warm humid summer, mild winter. With January's mean maximum at 29.9 degrees, a reverse cycle system here works hardest cooling and drying the air.
Floods
The NSW SES counts approximately 155 flood events in Lismore since 1850, and North Lismore has no levee. A unit that's been under water needs a proper check, not a routine service.
What damp weather does inside an air conditioner
When a split cools, water condenses on the coil and runs out through the condensate drain (the small pipe that carries water away from the indoor unit). In muggy weather that drain works far harder than it would somewhere dry.
Mitsubishi Electric says dirt inside the unit can create odours, help fungi such as mould grow, or clog the drain. Samsung says most indoor leaks come from a blocked or kinked drain hose, or one without enough slope. In Lismore, those problems tend to arrive together.
Mitsubishi Electric also warns against running a unit for more than 4 hours at high humidity (80% RH or more) with windows or an outside door open, because condensation may drip onto furniture. Close up the room while it cools.
What to ask for on a Lismore service
- The condensate drain flushed and the drain tray checked for slime, not just the filters rinsed.
- The coil and the indoor fan inspected for mould, with any full mould clean quoted as a separate item.
- The refrigerant charge checked by a technician holding a full RAC01 licence from the Australian Refrigeration Council.
- The outdoor unit cleared of leaves and silt, with its mounting height noted if your street floods.
What makes a Lismore service bigger or smaller
Time since the last one matters most: a coil that's gone a couple of humid summers without attention can need a strip-down rather than a wipe. Each indoor unit is cleaned on its own.
Access adds time. High set homes can put an outdoor unit on an upper deck or a high bracket, and MHIAA's warranty terms ask for units to be safely accessible with a 1.7 metre ladder.
Flood damage changes the job entirely: the visit becomes an assessment of whether the unit can run safely at all. Our repair page covers what happens if it can't.
If floodwater reached the unit
Don't turn it on to test it, and keep away from the switchboard if it's wet or you're standing in water. A licensed electrician should check the wiring, and an air conditioning technician the unit, before it runs again.
Your part between visits, and the technician's
You can
- Clean the filters on your manual's schedule. Mitsubishi Electric and Daikin both say about every two weeks.
- Run Fan mode for a while after cooling. Mitsubishi Electric recommends it to dry the indoor unit.
- Keep leaves, mulch and flood debris away from the outdoor unit.
Leave to a licensed installer
- Stripping and cleaning the coil, indoor fan and drain tray.
- Clearing a blocked drain line inside the wall.
- Any refrigerant check or leak search.
Questions to ask a Lismore technician
- Do you hold an RAC01 licence, and what's your RTA number? It should be on the quote and invoice.
- What's your NSW licence for air conditioning work, and does it include the electrical side?
- Will you flush the drain and check the tray, or only clean the filters?
- Is my outdoor unit mounted high enough for where I live?
What we'd do
If it were our place in Lismore
We'd book the service in spring, before the stickiest months, and ask by name for the drain and coil to be checked for mould. If the unit had ever been under water, we'd keep it off until it was checked and ask whether it could be remounted higher. A split specialist who services units through Northern Rivers summers knows what damp does to a coil. The national service guide has the full list, and the Lismore page covers installing.
