An MOT reception is a small waiting room and a desk, often glazed to the street and sharing a wall with the workshop. Comfort cooling belongs in that room. The return must not draw air from the workshop, the pit or the roller door. Fumes, vehicle heat and a door that opens onto the ramp are the workshop's problem. A split will recirculate whatever it is given. Site it entirely in the reception air. An F-gas certified company should install it.
A waiting room that is not the ramp
Customers sit and wait. The advisor stands at a screen. That is a modest people load with sun on the front glass and a door to the forecourt. Size that room. Do not add the workshop volume to the calculation, and do not help the ramps with the reception unit.
Forecourt glass, a long shift and a coil that must miss the exhaust
The front is often glass, west-facing and next to a door. The first seats may track the forecourt. You can still hold the desk. Say so. A setpoint in the mid 20s beside that glass is more honest than a cold number.
Advisors are there for a shift. HSE workplace temperature guidance is reasonable comfort, with no legal maximum. Customers are transient. A noisy unit over a conversation at the desk will be turned down until it is useless, so ask for low-fan sound.
The outdoor unit must not sit where it breathes exhaust, paint or a compressor's hot discharge, and it must not be parked in by the first car on the forecourt. A side wall with airflow and a bollard, or a roof with a structure check, is the hunt. Anti-vibration mounts matter if there is a flat above the reception.
A small room, a fire exit and a dedicated circuit
Condensate, a dedicated circuit and landlord or franchise consent are the usual limits. Filter access has to work inside a small room without blocking the only fire exit. The return stays in the reception, and workshop air stays excluded. An F-gas certified company should install it, with a condenser position that vehicles will not block.
Frequently asked questions
Can the reception unit also cool the workshop?
No. Workshop fumes and roller-door heat should not pass through the reception coil. Cool the waiting room. Leave the workshop as its own problem.
What if the door to the ramps is always open?
Then the reception is not a separate room. If the connecting door stands open, the reception unit will ingest workshop air and the waiting room will smell of it. Close the air path or add a lobby before you expect a split to hold clean, cool air. The unit will recirculate what it sees. A lobby or a second door changes the answer. It does not change the rule: the coil is not an extract for the pit.
Will a bigger unit solve exhaust smell in the waiting room?
No. Smell from the workshop is an air-path and ventilation problem. A larger coil in the same return will cool dirty air. Keep the return on the reception side.
Can the pipes cross the workshop?
Do not run the pipes through the workshop in a place a ramp or a tail lift will hit. Keep the refrigerant run on the reception side of that risk.
Core buying guides
Start with these high-intent guides, then dig into the rest of the library.
Related guides
Sources and further reading
How this guide was prepared
This guide was written by the Local AC Installers Editorial Team. We compare official guidance, legislation and established consumer information, separate general information from project-specific advice, and show publication dates and sources. We do not accept installer accreditation claims at face value.