Townsville facts that change the install
Zone 1, cooling all year
The ABCB map places Townsville in climate zone 1, where the Queensland Government's aim is to cool the home all year round and keep air-conditioned rooms well insulated and sealed.
Heat and humidity
Townsville Airport's mean maximum for December and January is 31.9 degrees, and February's dew point averages 23.1. ActronAir says tropical and subtropical areas have much greater demands than cooler regions.
Flood-prone suburbs
Rosslea, Hermit Park and Idalia were among the suburbs with major inundation in the 2019 flood. In homes like those, Get Ready Queensland suggests lifting the air conditioner and the switchboard clear of the flood level.
High-set houses
Historian Henry Reynolds noted in 1965 that most Townsville houses stood up on stumps. On a high-set house, ask where the pipes will run and how the outdoor unit will be reached: MHIAA's warranty terms want units safely accessible with a 1.7 metre ladder.
Night-time noise
Queensland's default standard limits air conditioner noise at the affected premises to 3 dB(A) above background between 10pm and 7am, and 5 dB(A) during the day, unless council sets its own. Where cooling runs overnight, placement matters.
Why efficiency counts for more in Townsville
Running cost works on input power in kW, multiplied by hours of use and your electricity rate. The hours are the Townsville factor: a unit that runs for much of the year multiplies every bit of inefficiency.
So compare energy labels on models of similar capacity, as the ACT Government's guide advises, and look at the blue cooling stars. Then fix the room: CHOICE says that in a well-insulated, well-sealed house a split can hold a comfortable temperature while running at very low power. Inverter compressors, which ActronAir says are now the industry standard, adjust their speed to the load rather than switching on and off.
What makes a Townsville install bigger or smaller
Raising the outdoor unit onto a stand or bracket above flood height, with the isolator and wiring to match, is the extra we'd pay most attention to in a flood-prone suburb. Long pipe runs down from a high-set house, or a unit placed away from a neighbour's bedroom window, add time too.
Mitsubishi Electric says each unit needs a dedicated power supply, so a switchboard with no spare room means electrical work first. For several rooms, Rinnai says a multi-split suits two to five rooms with their own controls, and ducted suits the whole house. Our main installation page covers the rest.
Questions for a Townsville installer
- What size did you calculate, and did it allow for humidity?
- How many cooling stars does this model get, compared with similar sizes?
- Where will the outdoor unit go, and how loud is it at night?
- Will the unit and isolator sit above the 2019 flood level here?
- What are your QBCC and RTA numbers, and who's doing the electrical work?
Groundwork you can do
You can
- Find out whether your street flooded in 2019, and how high.
- Seal obvious draughts and gaps in the rooms you'll cool.
- Note where the neighbours' bedroom windows are.
Leave to a licensed installer
- The heat load and size.
- Raising and fixing the outdoor unit.
- Refrigerant work, and circuits and isolators by a licensed electrician.
Licences to look for
Installing air conditioning is mechanical services work in Queensland, and the QBCC requires a licence for it at any value. When you look an installer up on the QBCC register, the classes for this work are mechanical services (air-conditioning and refrigeration) unlimited design, limited design and occupational. The wiring needs an Electrical Safety Office licence.
We'll pass your install to a single licence-checked installer who specialises in your kind of system, where we have one in Townsville, and tell you if we don't. See our Townsville page for more on the city.
What we'd do
Where we'd start
With the rooms, not the unit: insulation and draught sealing first, then a heat load, then the most efficient model of the right size. We'd keep the outdoor unit away from the neighbours' bedrooms and, in a flood-prone suburb, above the flood level with its isolator.
