When selecting the location of your wall unit installation, the best idea, if posssible, is to select an outside wall. This will enable you to take the interconnecting pipework easily to the outside area through a hole directly behind the air handler. This will make your pipework and cables invisible to the occupants of the room, and it makes for a super neat looking installation.

All of the inside air handling units are provided with a backing plate on which the air handler will be secured. This plate is generally packed attached to the back of the air handler and all sellotaped together.

Carefully lay the air handler face down on some soft material to prevent scratching or damage, and remove the backing plate from the fastenings on the air handler. Once all the packing has been removed, place the metal backing plate exactly into the slots on the air handler in the manner that the system will be mounted. Using a felt tip marker make an easily visible mark on the part of the mounting plate where the interconnecting pipework will obviously exit from the air handler. This seems a bit daft but it does save confusion because with this plate you are actually working back to front.

Remove the plate from the back of the air handler and carefully hold it on the wall where you intend the air handler to go. As most air handlers drop onto small lugs pressed in the backing plate, care should be taken to ensure that the plate is not fitted too close to the ceiling, otherwise the air handler will not have enough room to clear the plate and drop onto the locating points.

Use a spirit level and rule, and mark out exactly where the wall mounting plate should be fitted. While holding the plate in position, mark through several of the mounting holes so that you will know where to make the fixing holes in the wall.

Also, mark the area on the wall where you have marked on the plate where the interconnecting pipework is to be fitted through. A fairly large hole will be required at this point right through the wall. Ensure that this hole is not so high that the pipework will be going uphill through the hole. And not too low so that it can be seen from below the body of the air handler when it is fitted.

Once your fixing plate is up with the hole made through the wall to the outside, you are now ready to hang the wall mounted unit onto your fixing plate.

Gently pull the pipework up from the area in which it is located, and although the pipes are soft and pliable, do be very careful not to bend too sharply or kink the pipes. The larger of the two pipes generally has a metal spring around the very base to prevent kinks and flattening, but you can never be sure that all manufacturers will think of this helpful addition.

Once you have raised the pipes to a vertical position on the air handler you are ready to drop the unit onto your wall bracket and allow the pipes to pass straight out through the hole you have made. Poke the pipes through the hole and slowly move the air handler towards the wall as the pipes go through the hole. Get someone to give you a hand with this operation as it is one of those jobs that sometimes needs three hands. Try also to pass the condensate plastic hose out with the pipes and keep it at the lowest point of the hole through the wall

The initial fitting of the wall mounted air handling unit is now complete. To install and connect the related out side unit take a look at the instructions for this also set within our Bulletin section.

If you are not able to install the wall mounted air handler on an outside wall then the pipework can be bent to exit from either side of the air handler. There is generally a shaped knock-out piece that can be removed to allow the pipes to exit while still allowing the air handler to sit snugly on the wall.

The pipes will then have to be secured around the wall to a suitable area where you have selected to make the hole to the outside. If your condensate drain pipe follows this route with the refrigerant pipework, you should allow a very slight fall for the water to run away by gravity. Automatic condensate pumps are available if a gravity drain is not possible. Very useful also where the refrigerant pipework goes up the side of the air handler and into the roof area.

Neatness makes for the best finished job, and our own installations always allow for neat white rigid plastic trunking to be fitted to conceal any pipework sets that are exposed to view. This does make a feature of something that could look a bit unsightly. 3" X 3" white trunking is a good size for just about every size of pipework you need to fit into it.

Always remember however that we will be pleased to carry out this installation work for you, it's really not worth putting yourself out.