What's local about a small commercial job here
Shopfronts near the beach
Mooloolaba, Maroochydore, Bulcock Beach at Caloundra and Golden Beach are the areas Sunshine Coast Council has prioritised for coastal hazard work. A café or shop on those strips has its outdoor units in sea air every day it trades.
Long, humid cooling hours
Afternoon humidity at Sunshine Coast Airport averages 70% in January. A shop running its system through every trading day of summer puts far more hours on it than a home does, so filters and servicing need to keep up.
Storm season
The council says storms usually come between November and March. If you're cooling stock or a comms cupboard, ask the installer what happens when the power drops out and comes back.
No lighter rules for business
Queensland doesn't relax the licensing for shops and offices. The QBCC's mechanical services definition takes in homes and commercial buildings both, licensed at any value.
Read the warranty for business use
Cover often shrinks once a unit is used for business. TCL's terms drop to 12 months for commercial purposes, Midea's distributor lists 24 months, and Carrier gives hi-wall, multi and ducted systems 5 years in commercial use against 7 in a home.
Mitsubishi Electric treats a server or communications room install as commercial, with 1 year parts and labour. Add a corrosion clause for a beachfront site, and it's worth getting the warranty for your exact use in writing.
Questions for a commercial installer
- Which warranty applies to this model in a business, and does it cover salt air?
- How did you size it: people, equipment, glass and sun, or floor area alone?
- What service schedule keeps the warranty valid at our hours?
- Does the site need three phase power?
- What's your QBCC licence number and RTA number?
What we'd do
What we'd do
A café or a small office is close enough to a home job that we'd run it the same way, with the hours counted properly: a heat load that includes people and equipment, a model whose warranty covers business use, and a yearly service with a wash-down if you're near the sea. Once a site needs central plant or a long list of indoor units, our advice is to call a commercial mechanical contractor. Send us the details regardless, and we'll be straight about whether we've got an installer who fits.
