Reverse Cycle Air Conditioning WA 2026 - Get Quotes

Why Reverse Cycle Suits the Perth Climate

A reverse cycle unit is a heat pump that can run its refrigerant circuit in either direction, moving heat out of the house in summer and into it in winter. That dual capability is the whole argument for it in Western Australia, because Perth asks for both within the same year. Summer brings long runs of days above thirty five degrees with hot easterlies in the morning before the sea breeze arrives, and winter brings mild but damp conditions that make an uninsulated house feel considerably colder than the outside temperature suggests. One system covering both is simpler to own than two, and it occupies one outdoor space without needing a heater flue as well. It is also the reason reverse cycle has become the default in new WA housing instead of an upgrade. Builders now specify it as standard on most project homes. The air conditioning services guide for WA puts the options side by side.

Evaporative cooling remains popular in Perth and it deserves a fair hearing. In genuinely dry heat it works well and costs very little to run, drawing outside air across wet pads so the house is flushed with cooler air. Its weaknesses are that it cannot heat at all, its performance falls away when humidity rises, and it needs windows or vents open to work, which sits awkwardly with security and with keeping out smoke during a fire event. Households that keep an evaporative system often add a single reverse cycle split to the main living area for the worst days. That hybrid arrangement is common across Perth and is a perfectly sensible outcome and not a compromise. It keeps the cheap running cost for most of summer and adds real capability for the extremes.

Gas heating is the other system reverse cycle tends to replace, and the comparison is less lopsided than it first appears. A gas heater produces strong, immediate heat that many people prefer on a cold morning, and running costs depend heavily on gas and electricity prices, not on the technology alone. What reverse cycle offers is one appliance instead of two, no combustion inside the house, and no flue to maintain. Where a household already has ducted gas and it is working well, replacing it purely for the sake of it rarely pays back quickly. The more common path is to add reverse cycle for cooling and let the gas system reach the end of its life naturally. Gas appliance work is licensed in its own right, which the gas heater installation page covers.

Inverter technology is now standard on anything worth buying and it changes how a system behaves. A fixed speed compressor runs flat out until the room reaches temperature then stops, producing temperature swings and a surge of demand at every start. An inverter varies compressor speed to match the load, so it holds temperature steadily, runs quieter and uses considerably less power once the room is at setpoint. On a Perth summer afternoon that difference is noticeable both in comfort and on the meter.

Solar changes the economics in Western Australia more than in most states, and it is worth factoring into the decision. Perth has high solar uptake and cooling demand peaks during the day when a rooftop system is generating, which means running air conditioning through the afternoon often costs less than the tariff suggests. Households with existing panels frequently find reverse cycle cooling is the cheapest useful thing they can do with midday generation. The solar panel installation page covers that side of it. The pairing works best where the household is home during the day or can pre cool the house before everyone returns.

Insulation deserves a mention before any system is chosen, because it determines how hard that system has to work. A Perth home with poor ceiling insulation loses a great deal of cooling through the roof space, where summer temperatures climb far above ambient. Improving ceiling insulation is cheaper than upgrading to a larger unit and it reduces running costs permanently, which the ceiling and wall insulation page explains. Any installer who raises insulation before quoting a bigger unit is worth listening to.

Split, Multi Head or Ducted

A single split system is one indoor head connected to one outdoor unit, and it remains the most cost effective way to treat a single space properly. It suits a main living area, a master bedroom, a home office or a converted garage, and it can be installed in a morning on most houses. The limitation is obvious enough, since the conditioned air stays largely in the room it is delivered to and closed doors stop it going anywhere else. Many WA households run two or three separate splits rather than one larger system, which is a legitimate approach. It also spreads the cost over several years and means a single failure does not leave the whole house uncooled. Starting with the main living area is the usual order.

Multi head systems connect several indoor heads to a single outdoor unit, which appeals where there is nowhere to put three separate condensers. They suit townhouses, narrow infill blocks and units where outdoor space is tight, and they avoid a row of outdoor units along a boundary. The trade off is that the whole system shares one compressor, so a fault at the outdoor unit takes every room offline at once, and efficiency drops when only one head is running. Servicing costs are also higher than for a single split, since there is more refrigerant circuit to check.

Ducted reverse cycle puts the indoor unit in the roof space and distributes air through insulated ducting to outlets in each room. It delivers the most even whole home comfort, it is almost invisible apart from the outlets and a controller, and with zoning it lets you condition the living areas during the day and the bedrooms overnight. The requirements are a roof space with enough height and access, a ceiling structure that can carry the unit, and a considerably larger budget. The ducted air conditioning installation page covers the detail. Retrofitting ducted into an existing home is entirely normal in Perth, though it is easier in a tile roof with reasonable pitch than in a low pitched Colorbond roof.

Zoning is the feature that makes ducted worth the money and the one most often set up poorly. Properly designed zones let you close off unused parts of the house so the system conditions a smaller volume, which cuts running costs substantially in a four bedroom home where two rooms are empty all day. What matters is that the zones reflect how the household actually lives instead of following the floor plan mechanically. Ask how many zones are included and which rooms sit in each one, since adding a zone later is expensive. Three or four zones covers most family homes sensibly, and more than that starts adding cost for diminishing benefit. Living, bedrooms and a third zone for a study or rear wing is a common split.

Older Perth housing brings its own constraints on the ducted option. Homes from the 1950s and 1960s often have low pitched roofs with very little usable space, tile roofs that are awkward to work in during summer, and ceilings that were never designed to carry equipment. Some of those houses also contain asbestos in eaves, ceiling sheeting or wall linings, which has to be identified before anyone starts cutting outlets, and the asbestos testing and inspection page explains how that is handled. A split or multi head arrangement is often the practical answer in those houses. Where ceilings are being opened up anyway, it can be worth doing both at once, and the ceiling repairs page covers that work.

Choosing between the three comes down to four questions worth answering before quotes arrive. How many rooms genuinely need conditioning, whether there is usable roof space, how long you intend to stay in the house, and what the budget actually is. A ducted system in a house you will sell in two years rarely returns its cost, while three well placed splits often deliver most of the comfort for a third of the price. An installer who asks those questions is doing design work, and one who does not is selling a box.

Getting the Sizing Right

Sizing is where most poor outcomes originate and it is not a matter of floor area alone. A proper calculation accounts for the room dimensions and ceiling height, which way the room faces, how much glazing it has and whether that glass is shaded, the level of ceiling and wall insulation, the number of people typically in the space, and heat from appliances or a kitchen. Two rooms of identical floor area can need quite different capacities. The number that results is expressed in kilowatts and it should be explained to you, not simply asserted. Manufacturers and industry bodies publish sizing guidance, and a competent installer runs that calculation for your house.

West facing rooms are the classic Perth sizing trap. A living area with large west facing windows takes the full afternoon sun through the hottest part of a summer day, and a unit sized on floor area alone will be underpowered for exactly the hours it is most needed. External shading, awnings or window film reduce that load substantially and are often cheaper than the capacity upgrade they save, which the window tinting page covers. Where glazing is being replaced anyway, double glazing reduces both heat gain and winter heat loss. External shading outperforms internal blinds by a wide margin, because it stops the heat before it enters the glass.

Oversizing causes its own problems and it is a more common error than undersizing. A unit with far more capacity than the room needs will reach temperature quickly and shut down, which sounds efficient but means it never runs long enough to remove moisture from the air. The result is a room that feels cold and clammy rather than comfortable, along with more wear on the compressor from frequent starts. It also costs more to buy than the correctly sized unit would have, so there is no upside to erring high.

Open plan living areas need more thought than bedrooms because air has to travel further. A single head at one end of a long open space will condition its own end well and leave the far corner untouched, particularly where there is a kitchen adding heat. Head placement, throw distance and sometimes a second head are the answer, and a larger unit on its own is not. Ceiling fans help considerably here by moving conditioned air around, and the ceiling fan installation page covers that pairing. Running a fan alongside a split lets you set the thermostat a degree or two higher for the same comfort.

Ducted sizing works on the same principles at a whole house scale, with the added complication of zoning. The system has to be capable of conditioning the largest combination of zones likely to run together rather than every zone at once, which is how a sensible designer avoids specifying an enormous unit that never runs at full capacity. Duct sizing and outlet placement matter as much as the unit itself, since undersized ducting throttles a perfectly good system. Ask to see the room by room airflow figures behind the single headline capacity. Those figures are what tell you whether the back bedroom will actually get any air on a hot afternoon. Balancing dampers at commissioning is what turns those figures into reality.

Installation and Placement

Where the outdoor unit goes affects performance, noise and longevity, and it deserves more than the first convenient wall. The unit needs clear airflow around it, shade if possible, and enough space for a technician to work, and it should not sit in a narrow side passage where hot discharge air recirculates straight back into the intake. A condenser baking against a west wall with no clearance will run hotter, work harder and fail earlier than the same unit placed sensibly. On a Perth block that usually means the south or east side. Where the only available position is a west wall, a shade hood or a screen that still allows free airflow is worth considering.

Noise from the outdoor unit is a genuine issue on narrow infill lots and it is regulated, so it is not merely a neighbourly courtesy. Environmental protection noise regulations set assigned levels at neighbouring properties, and an outdoor unit positioned a metre from a bedroom window on the boundary can breach them at night. Good installers consider this before mounting, and acoustic screening or a different position usually solves it. Raising it with the neighbour early is a great deal cheaper than resolving a complaint afterwards. Local government enforces those regulations, so the conversation eventually becomes formal if it is not handled informally.

The indoor side has its own requirements. A wall mounted head needs to be positioned so the airflow reaches the occupied part of the room rather than being blocked by a wardrobe or blowing straight at a bed, and it needs a condensate drain that actually falls to somewhere sensible. Condensate is the most common cause of water damage after an installation, and a drain run uphill or terminating into a roof space will eventually show up as a ceiling stain. Ask where the condensate goes before the job starts. A drain discharging into a garden bed or a downpipe is fine, while one dripping onto paving beside a doorway will eventually become a nuisance.

Refrigerant pipe runs should be as short and direct as practical. Every extra metre of pipe adds resistance and reduces capacity, and manufacturers publish maximum lengths beyond which performance drops away or additional refrigerant is required. A long run from a living room head around the house to a condenser on the far side may be the only option on some blocks, but it should be discussed at quoting stage, not discovered on installation day. Pipe insulation also needs to be complete and UV rated where it runs outside, since bare or degraded insulation wastes capacity. Perth sun destroys unprotected insulation within a few summers, and it is an easy thing to check from the ground. Re-lagging exposed pipework is cheap and restores lost capacity.

The electrical side is where quotes most often differ. Most systems need a dedicated circuit, and many older Perth homes have switchboards with no spare capacity, no residual current protection or ageing ceramic fuses that must be brought up to standard before another circuit is added. That work is legitimate and necessary rather than an upsell, and the switchboard upgrade page explains what it involves. A quote that assumes the existing board is adequate, without looking at it, will often become a variation later. Asking for the board to be inspected as part of the quoting visit costs nothing and avoids the surprise.

Coastal properties need to think about corrosion from the outset. Salt laden air along the coast from Mandurah up through Fremantle, Scarborough, Hillarys and Yanchep attacks aluminium fins and steel cabinets, and an untreated condenser within a few hundred metres of the water will corrode noticeably faster. Manufacturers offer coastal specification units and coil coatings, and applying protective treatment at installation costs far less than early replacement. Ask specifically what coastal protection is included, since the standard unit may not cope. Manufacturer warranties sometimes exclude corrosion damage where a coastal specification unit was available and not used.

Installation quality shows up in small details worth checking on completion. Pipework should be neatly run and properly clipped rather than sagging, wall penetrations sealed against water and vermin, the outdoor unit level on a solid base rather than sitting on pavers that will settle, and the system commissioned with pressures and temperatures recorded. Ask to see the commissioning figures, because a system charged by guesswork rather than measurement will underperform quietly for years. Good installers provide them without being asked, usually as part of the paperwork left behind.

Running Costs and Efficiency

Energy labelling gives you a comparable measure of efficiency and it is worth understanding before choosing. Australian air conditioners carry the Zoned Energy Rating Label, which shows separate star ratings for hot, average and cold climate zones rather than a single figure, because a unit optimised for Hobart is not the same as one optimised for Perth. Western Australia sits in the hot zone for cooling purposes, so that is the column to read. A higher rating in the relevant zone means lower running cost for the same output. The label also shows separate figures for heating and cooling, which matters if one season dominates your usage.

Actual running cost depends on capacity, efficiency, how long the system runs and what you pay for electricity. In practice, cooling a single living area with a well sized inverter split for a few hours on a hot afternoon is a modest cost, while running a ducted system across a whole house all day is not. Zoning, thermostat discipline and using the system in the parts of the day that matter make more difference than the difference between two decent brands. Setting cooling to around twenty four degrees rather than twenty makes a substantial difference across a summer. Each degree lower asks noticeably more of the system on the hottest days. Twenty four with a fan running usually feels the same as twenty two without one.

Households with rooftop solar are in a particularly good position in Western Australia. Cooling demand peaks in the middle of the day and into the afternoon, which is exactly when a rooftop system is generating, so running the air conditioner then uses power that would otherwise be exported at a low rate. Pre cooling the house during the solar window and then easing back in the evening is a practical way to take advantage of that. It also reduces the load at the hottest part of the day when the system works hardest. Households on a time of use tariff benefit further, since the expensive window usually falls in the late afternoon and evening.

The building fabric does more for running cost than any control setting. Ceiling insulation, sealing gaps around doors and windows, shading west facing glass and closing off unused rooms all reduce the load the system has to meet. Draught sealing in particular is cheap and immediately effective in older Perth homes, and the draught proofing and sealing page covers it. A well sealed and insulated house with a modest system outperforms a leaky one with a large system.

Roof space temperature is an underrated factor for ducted systems specifically. A Perth roof cavity can reach well above outside temperature on a summer afternoon, and ducting running through that space loses capacity along its length unless it is properly insulated. Roof ventilation reduces the temperature the ducting sits in and helps the whole system, which the roof ventilation and whirlybird installation page explains. It is a modest cost against the capacity it recovers, and it helps the whole house, well beyond the air conditioning. Ducting itself should be rated insulation, not the thinnest product that meets the minimum.

Servicing and Common Faults

Filter cleaning is the one maintenance task owners can and should do themselves, and it has an outsized effect. A blocked filter restricts airflow, which reduces capacity, raises running cost and eventually causes the indoor coil to ice up, and in Perth's dusty summer conditions filters load faster than people expect. Every four to six weeks through the cooling season is reasonable for a system in daily use. It takes five minutes and needs nothing more than a vacuum and a rinse.

A professional service annually or every second year covers what the owner cannot. That includes checking refrigerant pressures, cleaning the indoor and outdoor coils properly, clearing the condensate drain, checking electrical connections and testing operation in both heating and cooling. Coil cleaning matters especially on coastal properties and near busy roads, where salt and grime build up on the fins and progressively strangle airflow. A serviced system uses less power for the same output, and problems get caught while they are still small. Booking outside the summer rush also means a technician who is not working through a backlog. Autumn and spring are the quiet windows.

The most frequent faults follow recognisable patterns. A system that runs but does not cool usually points to low refrigerant from a leak, a blocked filter or a fouled coil, and low refrigerant is always a leak, since none of it gets consumed in normal running. Water dripping from an indoor head is almost always a blocked condensate drain. A unit that trips the circuit breaker points to an electrical fault or a failing compressor, and repeated tripping should never be reset repeatedly without investigation, which is where electrical fault finding comes in.

Refrigerant work is licensed and that matters for both legal and practical reasons. Handling refrigerant requires a licence issued through the Australian Refrigeration Council, and topping up a system without finding the leak is poor practice as well as environmentally unsound. A technician who simply adds gas each summer is treating the symptom. Ask whether a leak test was performed and what it found before agreeing to a regas. Repeated top ups over consecutive summers are a sign the leak was never located.

Warranty conditions are worth reading closely before you need them. Most manufacturers require installation by a licensed installer and regular servicing to keep the warranty valid, and some distinguish between parts and labour periods. Keeping the installation paperwork, the commissioning figures and the service records together is what makes a warranty claim straightforward. Without them, a manufacturer can reasonably question whether the system was installed and maintained correctly. Filing them digitally means they survive a move. A shared folder with the installer's details in it is enough.

Knowing when to stop repairing and replace the unit saves money. A system more than twelve to fifteen years old with a failed compressor is rarely worth repairing, since the repair approaches replacement cost and the new unit will be substantially more efficient. Older systems may also use refrigerants that are being phased down and are increasingly expensive to obtain. A technician who lays out both options with figures is giving you what you need to decide. A repair that buys two more summers on a fifteen year old unit is sometimes still the right call, particularly before a planned renovation.

Licensing, Noise and Approvals

Two separate licences apply to a typical installation and both are worth checking. Electrical work must be carried out by a licensed electrician or electrical contractor, regulated in this state by Building and Energy, which maintains the licence registers. Refrigerant handling requires a refrigerant handling licence and the business needs a refrigerant trading authorisation, both administered by the Australian Refrigeration Council. A legitimate installer will provide both numbers without hesitation, and both can be checked online in a couple of minutes. It is a reasonable thing to ask and nobody working properly is offended by it.

Noise from outdoor units is regulated under Western Australian environmental protection noise regulations, which set assigned levels at neighbouring premises and are enforced by local government. Those regulations sit under state environmental protection law and can be read through Western Australian Legislation. Night time levels are stricter than daytime, which matters because air conditioners often run hardest on hot nights. Sensible placement, vibration isolation and acoustic screening usually bring a unit within the levels. Where a complaint arises, the local council is the first point of contact. Most situations are resolved by repositioning or screening, and very few end with the unit coming out. Vibration isolation mounts deal with a surprising share of complaints.

Strata and survey strata properties add an approval layer that catches people out. Mounting an outdoor unit on common property, running pipework across a shared wall or altering the external appearance of a building generally requires the approval of the strata company, and some schemes have by-laws specifying where units may be placed. Getting that approval before booking an installer avoids an awkward conversation and a possible removal order. Strata information for Western Australia is published through wa.gov.au, and the strata manager can usually tell you what the scheme requires. It is usually straightforward but it takes time, so start it before booking an installation date.

Heritage listed properties and homes in character protection areas have their own considerations, and these apply across parts of Fremantle, Subiaco, Guildford, York and other older centres. Local planning schemes may control what can be fixed to a street facing elevation, which affects where an outdoor unit or a roof mounted system can go. A quick call to the local government planning counter settles it. Installers who work regularly in those suburbs will usually raise it themselves. Where the only sensible position is visible from the street, a screened enclosure often satisfies the requirement.

New homes and major renovations fall under the energy efficiency provisions of the National Construction Code, published by the Australian Building Codes Board. Those provisions set requirements for the building fabric that in turn affect the size of system a house needs, and a well sealed, well insulated new home generally requires less capacity than an older one of the same size. Where a system is being installed as part of a build, the builder and the installer should be coordinating on that basis. Ducting is far easier to install before ceilings are closed up than afterwards.

Consumer protections apply as they do to any purchase and installation. The Australian Consumer Law provides guarantees on both the equipment and the installation work, overseen by the ACCC, and those guarantees sit alongside the manufacturer warranty rather than replacing it. Keep the quote, the invoice, the commissioning record and the licence details together. If a dispute arises, that paperwork is what the conversation turns on. Verbal assurances about capacity or running costs are difficult to rely on later.

Costs in Detail

A service and clean on a single split system runs $140 to $320 depending on access and how much coil cleaning is required. Multi head and ducted systems cost more because there is more to clean and more to check, typically $260 to $650. A diagnostic call out where something has failed is usually charged separately from the repair. Booking a service outside the December to February peak generally means a better rate and a faster appointment.

Split system installation prices vary mostly with capacity and pipe run. A small unit suited to a bedroom runs $1,450 to $2,600 supplied and installed, a mid size unit for a smaller living area $2,000 to $3,200, and a larger unit for an open plan living space $2,400 to $4,200. Long pipe runs, high wall mounting requiring scaffold, and difficult condenser placement all add. Replacing an existing unit in the same position is cheaper than a first time installation because the penetration and often the circuit already exist. Ask whether the existing pipework can be reused, since in many cases it cannot and the saving is smaller than expected.

Multi head systems run $4,600 to $9,800 for a typical three head installation, with the spread reflecting head sizes, pipe runs and how far the outdoor unit sits from each room. They are not usually cheaper than three separate splits on a like for like basis, and the case for them is space and appearance. Adding a fourth or fifth head pushes the figure higher and sometimes forces a larger outdoor unit. Ask for both options priced where the site allows a choice.

Ducted reverse cycle is the largest number on the page and the most variable. A three bedroom single storey home commonly lands at $11,500 to $18,500 installed with basic zoning, while a larger four or five bedroom home runs $16,500 to $26,000. Roof space access, ceiling structure, the number of zones, controller type and whether the ducting must cross a difficult roof line all move the figure. Two storey homes and houses with limited roof space sit well above those ranges. Bulkheads and dropped ceilings are sometimes needed where ducting cannot be routed through the roof space, which adds building work to the job.

Electrical work is the line most often underestimated. A dedicated circuit for a split typically adds $450 to $900, while a switchboard upgrade to accept new circuits runs $900 to $1,800 and sometimes more on older boards. Ducted systems usually need a larger supply again. None of this is optional, so a quote that excludes it is not cheaper, it is incomplete, and it is worth asking specifically whether the electrical work is included. Older homes with rewiring needs beyond the switchboard can add more again. On a house built before the 1990s it is sensible to assume some board work will be needed.

Regional pricing across Western Australia reflects distance more than anything else. Installers based in Bunbury, Busselton, Albany, Geraldton, Karratha and Kalgoorlie price within their own areas, while metropolitan firms travelling out add travel and sometimes accommodation. Equipment freight to the Pilbara and the Kimberley adds cost, and in those regions the capacity required is higher again given the climate. It is worth asking whether a supplier stocks locally or freights each unit in.

What to Look Out For

Be cautious of a capacity quoted without a site visit. Sizing depends on orientation, glazing, insulation and ceiling height as much as floor area, and a kilowatt figure offered over the phone is a guess that will be wrong in one direction or the other. An undersized unit disappoints every February, and an oversized one leaves rooms cold and clammy. Ask how the number was arrived at and expect a real answer. An installer who has measured and asked about glazing will have one ready.

Watch for quotes that exclude the electrical work. Most installations need a dedicated circuit and many older Perth switchboards need upgrading before one can be added, so a quote that is silent on it has left out a real and sometimes substantial cost. Ask whether the price includes the circuit, whether the switchboard has been inspected, and what happens if it needs work. A contractor who has looked at the board will tell you straight away. Photographing the switchboard and sending it with your enquiry often gets a more accurate quote from the outset. It is a habit worth adopting for any electrical enquiry.

Be careful about outdoor unit placement being treated as an afterthought. A condenser crammed into a narrow side passage with no clearance, or mounted a metre from a neighbour's bedroom window, will either underperform or generate a noise complaint, and relocating it afterwards means new pipework and another wall penetration. Walk the property with the installer and agree the position before the day. Shade and airflow are worth more than convenience for the installer.

Check both licences, since one on its own does not cover the job. Electrical work needs an electrical licence and refrigerant handling needs an ARC licence, and an installer must have access to both, whether in one person or through a team. Anyone unwilling to provide the numbers is not the contractor to use. This is also the point at which unusually cheap quotes tend to explain themselves. Unlicensed refrigerant work is both an offence and a warranty problem. Manufacturers can and do decline claims where installation was not carried out by a licensed party.

Finally, ask about coastal protection if you live near the water and ask where the condensate goes regardless of where you live. Salt corrosion shortens condenser life along the whole Perth coast, and coil treatment at installation is far cheaper than early replacement. Condensate drains that run uphill or discharge into a roof space are the most common cause of post installation water damage. Both are small questions that prevent expensive problems.

How to Get Comparable Quotes

Start by listing what you actually want conditioned. Which rooms, how they are used, whether anyone is home during the day, how long you plan to stay in the house, and whether heating matters as much as cooling. Note the orientation of the main living area and whether it has large west facing glass, since that single fact often changes the recommendation. Contractors given that information quote the same job, so you get three comparable figures. It also stops the conversation drifting toward whatever product the installer happens to have in stock.

Send each installer an identical set of written questions. Proposed capacity for each space and how it was calculated, make and model with the zoned energy rating for the hot climate zone, indoor and outdoor unit positions, pipe run lengths, condensate drainage route, whether a dedicated circuit and any switchboard work are included, coastal coil protection where relevant, commissioning figures on completion, warranty terms for parts and labour separately, and the cost of an annual service.

Read the specifications side by side before you look at the totals. A cheaper quote that fits a smaller unit, omits the electrical work or leaves out coil protection is quoting a different job rather than a better price, and adding those items back usually closes most of the gap. Where a quote is substantially lower with no obvious omission, ask what is different. Good installers are happy to explain their reasoning.

Keep the records together once the work is done. The make, model and serial numbers, the commissioning pressures and temperatures, the licence details of the installer and the electrician, the warranty documents and the date of each service all belong in one place. That file is what makes a warranty claim simple and what tells the next technician how the system was set up. Photographing the outdoor unit nameplate takes ten seconds and saves a search later.

A properly sized, well placed reverse cycle system will keep a Perth house comfortable through a heatwave and take the edge off a wet July for years with very little attention. What decides that is the sizing calculation, the placement and the electrical work behind it, not the badge on the front. Spending the time on those before choosing a brand is the most useful thing a household can do. A mid range unit installed well beats a premium one installed poorly every summer. Brands widely installed across Western Australia include Daikin, Mitsubishi Electric, Fujitsu, Panasonic, Rinnai, Actron Air and Braemar, and most reputable installers work mainly within two or three of them.