On install day the team needs a clear indoor wall, a clear outdoor position, and a path from the van to both. Move pictures, shelves and the sideboard before they arrive. Core drilling throws dust, so the floor under the hole should be empty. If a skip, a neighbour's car or a locked side gate blocks the condenser, the job stalls before anyone opens the refrigerant gauges. An F-gas certified company still has to carry a heavy outdoor unit to a lawful spot.
Pictures, shelves and the sofa on the drill wall
Take down anything on the indoor wall and about a metre either side: pictures, curtain poles that swing into the fascia, and floating shelves. The bracket needs solid fixing and a service gap above the unit so the filter can come out later. A sofa hard against that wall means the engineer works bent double and the dust falls into the cushions.
The floor under the hole and the pipe drop
Roll rugs back and move the crib, the pet bed and the bin. The drill zone is the wall, the floor beneath it, and the route the pipe will take down to the outside. If you only clear the bracket and leave a bookcase in the pipe drop, they will ask you to move it while the hole is open. Pets and children need to be out of that zone before the core bit starts.
A path from the van, not a crowded hall
A condenser does not come through a crowded hall in silence. Clear a walking route, including the turn at the stairs. Installers price a clear house and a clear wall.
- Empty the indoor wall and the floor under the hole.
- Open the side gate and the loft hatch if pipes pass that way.
- Leave the consumer unit reachable.
- Put cars, bins and bikes off the outdoor unit's landing spot.
The dryer, the gate and the consumer unit
If the outdoor unit is on a rear wall, unlock the garden and move the rotary dryer off the bracket line. In England, the Planning Portal conditions for an air source heat pump still apply to where that unit sits.
Know where the electricity is isolated. The electrician needs the consumer unit, not a guess that the fusebox is behind a wardrobe. Have a parking plan for the van before 8am. A skip already in the only bay is a morning lost, and it stops the job even when the rooms are perfect.
Walk the pipe line the night before
Walk the pipe route the night before: indoor unit, hole, trunking, outdoor unit, drain. If you hate trunking across the front brick, say so while the quote is still paper. On the day, someone who can approve a change must be in the house. A house sitter who can only make tea cannot move the hole when the survey wall turns out to be a flue.
Leave windows you were told to keep available unlatched, and tell the team about alarms. Energy Saving Trust describes these systems as air-to-air heat pumps when they also heat. The install is still a building job: dust, a core hole, and a unit that has to be commissioned, not a delivery you sign for on the step.
A tidy room does not fix an unlawful condenser spot
Clearing the wrong wall does not make an unlawful position acceptable. If a skip, a neighbour's car or a locked side gate blocks the condenser, the job stalls before anyone opens the refrigerant gauges. Furniture moved indoors cannot repair a bay you did not free, or a spot the Planning Portal conditions do not allow. An F-gas certified company still has to carry a heavy outdoor unit to a lawful spot.
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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.