The outdoor unit contains the compressor, the condenser coil and the fan. Its job is to reject the heat collected indoors into the outside air, and its ability to do that depends almost entirely on decisions made at installation.
Clearance and airflow
A condenser needs clear air in and clear air out. Boxed into a narrow side passage, tucked under a low deck, or facing a wall a hand-span away, it recirculates its own hot exhaust. Head pressure climbs, efficiency falls, running costs rise and the compressor works permanently harder than it should. This is the single most common installation compromise, and it shortens the life of the most expensive component in the system.
Coastal exposure
From Durban up the north coast, salt is the dominant factor. It settles on the aluminium fins and, in the presence of constant humidity, corrodes them and the copper tubing they are bonded to. A coil that has lost its fins to corrosion cannot reject heat regardless of how well the rest of the system works. Units within a few hundred metres of the sea benefit from coated coils and from rinsing the coil with fresh water regularly.
Mounting
Brackets into solid masonry rather than mortar joints, anti-vibration mounts to stop the compressor drumming through the wall into the house, and enough height above ground to stay clear of splash and garden debris. Getting this right at install costs very little; correcting it afterwards means taking the system down.
Brands we fit and service
The outdoor condenser unit market splits into hardware built for South African conditions and lookalikes that fail at the first hard season. These are the manufacturers we trust on our installations:
- Samsung
- LG
- Midea
- Hisense
- Daikin
- Alliance
- Defy; coated-coil coastal models
See our brand guides for how these manufacturers compare.
When the outdoor condenser unit goes wrong
These are the failures we're called to most often — each with its symptoms, causes and our fix on the dedicated problems page:
- Corroded outdoor coil on a coastal installation — White or powdery deposits and crumbling aluminium fins on the outdoor coil, with cooling performance that has declined s…
- Poor cooling from a unit boxed into a narrow space — A system that has never cooled particularly well, runs almost continuously, and is expensive to run despite the unit bei…
Need this fixed or installed?
Our Aircon Installation service covers outdoor condenser unit work — from R2 000, quoted upfront and backed by our 12-month workmanship warranty.