Over a year ago, when the Sundarams returned to their gated community in Padur from the United States, they were greeted by a “monstrosity”. An outdoor unit of an air-conditioner was sitting just a stretched-hand’s length away from their main door. By no stretch of imagination is an AC outdoor unit a monstrosity, but in their eyes it was. It was intruding into their space. They wasted no time in letting the managers of the gated community know of their displeasure.
“The office team carried out an inspection and got the outdoor unit relocated,” says Lalitha Sundaram, a resident of Mantri Synergy.
Also a member of the managing committee of the Association at the gated community, Lalitha notes the Association has spelt out the rules of installing AC outdoor units. The rules include sharing details of the AC vendor with the office as well as getting a no-objection certificate from neighbours.
With households investing in additional air-conditioners, the placement of outdoor units often makes a contentious issue in apartments. The older the community, the greater the challenge.
At the 384-flat Ceebros Gardens in Virugambakkam, no provision had been made for the placement of outdoor units of split ACs. “As this project came up more than two decades ago, the developer did not foresee the demand for split ACs,” says Deepa Makesh, a committee member.
“The Association has said that no outdoor unit must be fixed on the OTS (Open to Sky) because in our apartment it opens to the living room or bedroom of another flat,” says Deepa. Servicing the external units is also a challenge.
She says those living on the sixth and seventh floor are permitted to leave the outdoor unit on the terrace. “Most of the time, we ask a resident to solve this issue through a conversation with their immediate neighbours,” she says.
Anand Flats, a 40-year-old apartment at Dr. Ranga Road in Mylapore, discourages tenants/owners to keep the outdoor unit on the sunshade without any “angle/stand” as it might affect the building stability.
Increasing transformer load
In high-end gated communities, on an average, a household has more than three AC units and during summer, there is the additional challenge of the grids being burdened with additional load.
BBC City Paark Apartments in Porur has had to approach Tangedco to have its transformer upgraded to meet the increased demands of summer. The residents association also sends out reminders asking people to see if they can avoid running the ACs through the day to ease the burden on the transformer.
“We cannot restrict people from installing ACs or its usage, so we got Tangedco to upgrade our transformer post-COVID as the old one had also suffered damages,” says Subramanian Murali, president of Sangath Apartments in Velachery.
“Going by the load felt by the transformer, there is probably a need for another upgrade,” says Subramanian.
He says they insist that outdoor units are installed at specific points, some marked by the residents association’s office, to ensure it does not affect the building.
It is seldom an easy exercise
When an apartment builder has not created a provision for the placement of AC outdoor units, the challenge of installing one is in proportion to the height of the floor it has to installed on.
“Fixing an AC outdoor unit in a multi-storey apartment complex often throws up logistical problems. A tall ladder would be required. In some cases, we try scaffolding but that is expensive. The other option is the “belt and rope” system, which is risky,” says Ashwin Kumar, director, Techno Power Aircons, a 40-year-old company in the AC segment.
With window ACs fading away, technicians say conversion to a split AC is a humongous task as not all old apartment complexes are favourable, in design terms, to the installation of outdoor units.
“Although split ACs were launched in the early 1990s, they were then a luxury product. Big manufacturers came to the market with split ACs only from 2000s,” says Ashwin.
Ashwin says they work with developers to create a “catwalk” system at the side of the building. Here a number of AC units can be kept in a common area and the design allows technicians to work on the outdoor units without any difficulty.
It is not always easy to get a buy-in for this idea, he adds.
“Recently, in an upcoming project in Mandaveli, which has five floors, two flats in each, clients that were willing to purchase ACs from us wanted a common space where the outdoor unit could be placed. The builder, however, was not keen on the idea. Later, the builder agreed to keep the outdoor unit of 1st and 2nd floor in the parking area and third to fifth floor on the terrace,” says Ashwin. Where outdoor units are installed on the terrace of apartments, lengthy copper pipes are required. “There is no guarantee that the wiring will last a long time, so this can turn out to be expensive for a flat owner,” says Ashwin, and on a positive note, adds that VRF system which can support multiple indoor AC units, is emerging.
