Aircon Installation in Gauteng, and What Should Happen on Site

You're most likely in one of four spots.

A bedroom or lounge that's unbearable in summer. An old aircon that's died and you'd rather replace it than keep paying for repairs. A rental where the landlord, or the tenant, wants cooling put in properly. Or a small office where people are working in the heat.

Each one starts the same way. With the room, not the box.

A box bought on price and bolted to the nearest wall will work, after a fashion. Correct sizing, positioning and electrical arrangements matter to how well it performs, so choose for the room.

Cooling capacity is measured in BTU per hour (written BTU/h, shortened to BTU in sales listings). A 12,000 BTU/h unit has about 3.5 kW of cooling capacity. Bigger isn't better.

Sun, glass, ceiling height and what's in the room all move the number, and published sources don't agree on it exactly. The aircon installation cost page has the sizing table, a worked rule of thumb and what goes wrong when a unit is too big or too small. Choosing between a fixed-speed unit and an inverter aircon comes after the size is settled.

On a proper air conditioner installation the work runs roughly in this order. Ask any installer to walk you through it. You'll learn a lot from how they answer.

1. Check the site. Where the indoor unit goes, where the outdoor unit goes, which way the pipes run, and what supply is already there.
2. Fit the indoor unit following the manufacturer's instructions, with a hole through the wall for the pipes and cable.
3. Mount the outdoor unit on brackets or a slab, level and off the ground, with space round the fan so hot air can leave.
4. Run and neaten the pipes, cable and drain. Refrigerant pipes get the specified insulation and support. Cables and drainage are supported and routed correctly, with a suitable fall for gravity drainage. Some installations use a condensate pump instead.
5. Leak test and evacuation. The connected pipework is leak-tested and evacuated of air and moisture following the manufacturer's procedure before the system is charged or opened to refrigerant. It's the step that's easy to rush and impossible to see once the walls are closed up.
6. Electrical supply. Have the supply, circuit protection and isolation arrangements assessed for the unit and the manufacturer's instructions.
7. Switch on and hand over. Commissioning includes a cooling check, filter instructions and clearing installation waste.

Neat pipework does not show whether testing and evacuation were done properly. Ask what checks were completed at commissioning.

Two parts of an aircon job carry legal requirements.

The refrigerant circuit:

Work on the refrigerant circuit needs an SAQCC Gas registered practitioner.

You can ask to see the registration before work starts.

The electrics:

A new electrical circuit needs a Certificate of Compliance from a registered electrician.

Ask who will issue it, and keep it with your property papers.

Both parts involve things that can hurt people. Refrigerant under pressure. Mains power. An outdoor unit on a bracket two storeys up. None of it is a weekend project, and a quote that's silent on either deserves a question.

It depends on the job, and the installers we cite give different estimates.

Roughly two to three hours for some back-to-back jobs, and three to five hours for some standard single splits. ServiceLink SA (16 Feb 2026) gives 3 to 5 hours for a standard unit in its FAQ, though its own table says 3 to 4, and 2 to 3 hours for a back-to-back unit. Aircon Master (20 Sep 2026) says roughly three to five hours, and that multi-head systems, long pipe runs or hard wall access can push a job to a full day.

Access, electrical work and pipe routes can extend the job. So can the length of the pipe run, the wall (core-drilling through double face-brick is slower than drilling plasterboard), working at height, and more than one indoor unit.

Better to ask than to guess. Say how many rooms, which wall and which floor, and the person who calls you back can talk through the time for your site.

Multi-split, ducted and larger office or shop systems are assessment-led. They need someone to look at the building: ceiling space, how many zones, where the outdoor units can sit, what the supply can carry.

Send a request, say it's for a business or a whole-home system, and describe the space. If the job needs a look first, we say so; the price and scope are confirmed before you agree to go ahead.

The outdoor unit is the part people forget until it needs service.

A unit tucked behind a garden wall looks lovely and is miserable to reach. Ask where a technician will stand, how a ladder gets there and whether the fan has room to breathe. A shaded, ventilated spot off the ground suits the unit better than a sun-baked corner.

Gauteng's storm season matters here too. At a 2024 briefing, the SA Weather Service said October and November are well known for severe storms on the Highveld, with a risk of large, damaging hail. It's a fair thing to raise when you choose the spot: what overhangs it, what could fall on it.

Living in a complex or an estate? Check your body corporate or estate rules before an outdoor unit goes up. Ask in writing, and do it before you buy.