Aircon trunking - side of house or loft?

El_Selb

I recently had aircon fitted and my wife and I were quite shocked to see this unsubtle trunking on the back of our house. The appearance was never made clear and I was under the impression that apart from water drainage, the electrics and air pipes would be through the loft. Afterwards, the aircon fitters said it's standard practice to fit on the side of the house instead of the loft, and I was never given an option.

When we complained suddenly it was possible to go via the loft, but at £600 additional cost for an extra day's labour to remove from the side of the house and re-route. This is the route we then went down but feeling aggrieved at the extra cost.

Can someone tell me, is it indeed standard practice not to route via the loft?

casper_gutman

I haven't seen a lot of retrofitted AC on standard UK houses, but that trunking is ugly and personally I wouldn't accept it. I'm surprised they did it like that without discussing first.

I'd have thought whole building AC would be a relatively "high end" option in the UK, and unfortunately surface trunking like that makes it look decidedly cheap.

victor2

It is indeed ugly. When you said you were "under the impression that apart from water drainage, the electrics and air pipes would be through the loft", I take it there was nothing in the contract to install the system. That's probably a standard install, particularly on commercial premises, and concealing the pipework by going through the loft would be extra work - wouldn't like to see anyone try to run any pipes through our loft - it's a tad cluttered!

Would have been nice if they'd told you what they were planning to do before they started. I assume you just let them get on with it, and didn't notice until it was almost completed, as in the picture?

£600 is a lot, but as a percentage of the whole cost, I don't suppose it's that bad. If there wasn't even a verbal agreement to run stuff through the loft, I don't think you have much chance of avoiding the extra cost.

danrv

I have white trunking on the side of my property for the multi split AC.
I suppose it depends where the outdoor inverter is positioned but I'm fine with the appearance. It goes along and up to the loft in an L shape.
The installers spent a good amount of time working out the routing and we discussed inverter position so just left them to it. 

ComicGeek

If you didn't ask before they started then you have left the decision in their hands. Too late to complain once they've finished.

Don't know if it's just a British thing, but why couldn't you raise it with them before they started?

'Would you like a cup of tea? And before you make a start, please can you just talk me through what you're proposing in terms of where the equipment goes, what I'll see in terms of pipework, and how it's going to be finished off?"

Would solve so many issues on this board if people actually spoke up at the start.