Multi-split air conditioning in Ilford

How does a multi-split connect several rooms?

Each room gets its own indoor unit with its own pipe pair, cable and drain, and every one of those runs ends at the same outdoor unit. The number of connection ports on that outdoor unit sets how many rooms it can serve. Upstairs rooms are usually reached through the loft or down the outside of the house in a cover; ground-floor rooms take a more direct line. Every room has its own remote and its own set temperature.

Why does a single outdoor unit suit Ilford's semis and terraces?

Because permitted development lets a semi-detached or terraced house have just one outdoor unit, and a detached house two, before planning permission is needed. In Redbridge those two house types account for 59.23% of households, our sum of the 2021 Census shares for terraces (32.27%) and semis (26.96%). Much of Ilford's terraced housing went up in the boom between 1891 and 1911, and the interwar semis followed as private building spread north through Gants Hill and Newbury Park to Barkingside, with more variety in the size and layout of houses, as the Victoria County History records. A multi-split covering the front room and both bedrooms stays inside the one-unit allowance where three single splits would not. Sources: Planning Portal; Census 2021 via Area Insights; Victoria County History; Victoria County History, Ilford.

How does a multi-split compare with separate single splits?

Whichever layout you choose, every outdoor unit must pass the 37 dB(A) calculation at the neighbours' nearest window, and a bigger unit needs more care over where it stands. Sources: Planning Portal; Grant UK.

When do we suggest single splits instead?

On a detached house, which may have two outdoor units under permitted development; where the rooms sit at opposite ends of the building and the runs would be long; where you want one room now and another in a year or two; and where losing every room to one fault would really hurt, say a home office and a baby's room. We can price both layouts at the survey so you can weigh cost against convenience.

Can the flats in a converted house share one system?

Rarely. Redbridge has 6,792 households in flats within converted or shared houses, 6.55% of the total, and in those buildings the outside walls and the garden usually belong to the freeholder rather than to any one flat. A shared system would also leave several owners paying for and relying on one machine. In practice each flat that wants cooling needs its own consent and its own system, and a building made up of flats gets a single permitted outdoor unit however many flats it holds, so later ones need planning permission. Read the lease first. More on how local housing affects the work is on our air conditioning for Ilford homes page. Sources: Census 2021 via Area Insights; LEASE; Planning Portal.