Design
Designing for Brisbane Extremes
The Importance of Good Design
An exceptional air conditioning system for your home always
begins with a sound, well-considered design. In fact, depending on the quality of design, two air conditioning firms using exactly the same unit may achieve very different results in your home!
At REFRESH, we pride ourselves in taking a very serious approach to the intelligent design of each air conditioning systems. Unlike many air conditioning companies, all design is done in-house by our trained professionals. Further, each design is tailored around meeting the following engineering objectives.
Each REFRESH system design must:
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Enhance the Longevity of the Air Conditioning Unit;
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Minimise the unit’s Power Consumption; and,
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Maximise the unit’s Cooling & Heating Performance.
Design Temperatures
One of the most critical elements for intelligent air conditioning design is an accurate understanding of the region’s climate and how each building type will be affected.
As such, the cooling and heating requirements for your home will be analysed in some detail by REFRESH.
The design of your air conditioning system will then be based on the following conservative ‘Design Temperatures’, which exceed the nationally-agreed industry standard for Brisbane .
Design Ambient Conditions (Outdoors)
Summer 33°Celsius (January Average is 29.8°C)
Winter 9°Celsius
Desired Room Conditions (Indoors)
Summer 23°Celsius
Winter 21°Celsius
Additional Information
Your air conditioning system should be sized to cool the maximum area that you wish to cool or heat simultaneously (which is called the ‘Master Zone’ – see below).
In residential air conditioning, the unit selected will be capable of maintaining a 10°C temperature difference between the outdoor and indoor conditions. For example, this means that your system will maintain 23°C indoors when it is 33°C outdoors.
On the very limited number of days where the outdoor temperature climbs above 33°C, a well designed air conditioning system offers you two options for intelligently managing your climate:
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Firstly, you may choose to maintain 23°C in a smaller area of the home by turning off more zones than usual.
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Alternatively, you may wish to continue running the entire Master Zone, recognising that the indoor temperature may rise above 23°C accordingly (although continued de-humidification of the air will help minimise discomfort even at higher indoor temperatures).
Selecting the Ideal Unit Size & Type
The ‘Master Zone’
The ‘Master Zone’ is an important concept in understanding which air conditioning unit is right for your home and for your family. This can be the difference between an outstanding result and one that is perhaps a little less than perfect.
Essentially, the Master Zone represents the largest workload that you wish the air conditioning unit to manage at any one time. In Brisbane, this will be the maximum floor space that you would plan to operate simultaneously in mid-summer.
For example, you may wish to only air condition your informal living area (Kitchen, Meals and Family) during any given weekday. However, on Christmas Day you will probably want to simultaneously cool both your informal and formal living areas.
As the second combination is the larger of the two in the above example, it will probably become the Master Zone used for selecting the correct air conditioning unit.
Therefore it is important to:
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Understand precisely the maximum combination of rooms or zones you wish to use at the same time;
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Ensure that all connecting hallways, stairwells and voids have been included in the Master Zone; and,
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Confirm that all of the air conditioning units being quoted are conservatively sized around your maximum cooling and heating requirements.
Remember: The smaller your Master Zone, the smaller the air conditioning unit that will be required!
