Where the photos come from
Each photo is sent to us by an installer in our network, from a job they did. We only publish one when that installer has given us permission, and we keep a record of when they gave it.
Every caption says what the job was, the city and the month. It doesn't name the installer: we keep them anonymous on this site, and you'll hear the business name of whoever takes your job when they contact you.
A person looks at each photo before it goes up. Phone photos can carry the spot where they were taken, which for a job photo means someone's house, so that hidden data is stripped from every image before it's published.
What a tidy install looks like in a photo
- An outdoor unit with open air around it. The ACT Government's guide warns against enclosed courtyards and says never to box the unit in with slat fencing.
- Room to get at it. The same guide says to think about easy access for maintenance when choosing the spot.
- A lockable isolating switch next to the outdoor unit, but not mounted on it. Access Canberra quotes the Wiring Rules clause that requires one on systems with a compressor.
- Pipes and cable running neatly, covered or clipped back, not looping across the wall.
- An indoor unit that sits level. Samsung lists an unlevel unit among the causes of water leaking inside.
- A drain line that ends somewhere sensible, not across a path or against a neighbour's fence.
What a photo can't show you
A photo shows how a job looked on the day. It can't show whether the system was sized for the room, whether the pipework was pressure tested, or whether the right person did the electrical connection.
So ask for the paperwork as well as the pictures. Quotes and invoices should carry the installer's RTA number, and a Victorian install should finish with an Energy Safe Victoria Certificate of Electrical Safety and a plumbing compliance certificate in your hands.
After your own install
You can
- Take your own photos of both units and the pipe run on the day, for your records and any warranty question later.
- Keep leaves and clutter away from the outdoor unit. Daikin says debris makes it run less efficiently.
- Keep the quote, the invoice and any certificates together.
Leave to a licensed installer
- Moving either unit, even a short way.
- Anything that touches the refrigerant or the wiring.
- Fixing a drain that leaks or a unit that isn't level.
What we'd do
What we'd do
Use photos to judge care, not competence. A neat pipe run and a sensible outdoor spot are good signs, but we'd still ask the installer for photos of jobs like ours, and for the certificates at the end. Someone who does careful work is usually glad to show it.