About Ilford Air Conditioning

What does Ilford Air Conditioning do?

We fit, service and repair air conditioning, and nearly every system we fit is reversible, so it heats as well as cools. In homes the job usually starts with one bedroom or flat that will not cool down, and sometimes grows into several rooms on one outdoor unit, an air-to-air heat pump that takes over a room's winter heating, or a conservatory or garden room. For workplaces we fit office cooling, air conditioning in shops, salons and restaurants and cooling for server rooms and comms cupboards. Systems already on the wall, whoever installed them, get servicing and repairs.

How is the price worked out?

We look before we quote. A survey shows the size and aspect of the room, where the outdoor unit can sit, how far the pipes have to run, and whether the fuse board can take a new circuit. The written quote then gives the equipment by model, the electrical work, any tower or access platform, and extra pipe length as separate lines, so you can set it beside another firm's quote and see what each one includes. National figures, such as those in Checkatrade's cost guide, are a fair yardstick but they are not our prices; our cost guide explains them.

Who has to agree before we fit anything?

Whoever owns the outside wall, and in Ilford that is often not the person who phones us. At the 2021 Census 30.45% of Redbridge households rented privately, up from 22.9% in 2011, and in Ilford Town ward 55% of households lived in purpose-built flats and 56% rented privately. A tenant needs the landlord's agreement. A leaseholder needs the freeholder's, and a freeholder is under no duty to allow work on the outside walls and may ask for a payment in return. A block of flats is allowed one outdoor unit under permitted development, while a flat above a shop falls outside those rights altogether. We settle all of this before anyone pays for equipment. Sources: Area Insights, Census 2021; Redbridge Council, 2011 Census; Area Insights, Ilford Town ward; LEASE; Planning Portal.

Which papers should any installer be able to show you?

Before you pay a deposit to anyone, ask for three things. First, the firm's F-gas certification: any business working on refrigerant systems it does not own, one-person firms too, needs it from an approved body, with renewal due every three years, and each engineer who opens the refrigerant circuit needs a personal qualification on top. Next, who will certify the new circuit, a registered electrician or, failing that, a registered third-party certifier, because Part P makes adding a home circuit notifiable work. Last, for a house or flat, the noise calculation, which must come to no more than 37 dB(A) at next door's closest window or door. The F-gas register guide explains how to look a firm up. Sources: GOV.UK, company certification; GOV.UK, qualifications; IET; Grant UK.