Mitsubishi Electric installer, Melbourne’s south-east.

On a bedroom split the gap is a few hundred dollars, and the honest answer is that it usually pays for itself the first time something goes wrong, or rather, the first time it doesn't. Under 1% of the ones we've installed have come back to us. Where it clearly matters is year eight onwards: a budget unit with no parts left is a whole new system, and that is a five-figure difference on a ducted job.

Same wall split, different outdoor unit. A standard AP loses heating capacity as the ambient temperature drops. Hyper Heating holds its full rated output down to -15°. In Pakenham or Cranbourne that difference rarely shows up. In Emerald, Gembrook or Cockatoo it shows up most mornings in July, which is why we quote it there.

You need it. An unzoned ducted system conditions the whole house every time it runs, including four bedrooms nobody is in at seven at night. Four to eight zones is what makes the running cost sensible, and we fit it by default rather than quoting it as an extra to make the headline number look better.

Yes. A MELCloud Wi-Fi module clips into any indoor unit in the range, including the cheapest one. You get scheduling, geofencing and a usage history. It's a module rather than a model tier, so you don't have to buy up to get it.

A single split back-to-back is three to four hours, done in one visit. A multi-head is usually a full day. Ducted is one to two days depending on how many zones and how kind the roof space is. We tell you which of those you're in before you accept the quote.

Five years manufacturer parts and labour on the unit, registered in your name the day after we install it. On top of that we carry six years on our own workmanship, which covers the install rather than the box: brackets, line-set, drainage, penetrations, the things that are our fault if they go wrong.

Yes, and we do a lot of them. $220 for a split, $390 for a ducted, and the service report goes to Mitsubishi so your warranty record stays clean. If we find something we'd have done differently on the install we'll tell you what it is and whether it's worth fixing.

Both. Pakenham, Officer, Berwick and Cranbourne are our home ground and we're same-day there. Ringwood, Croydon, Glen Waverley and the rest of the eastern ring are booked installs rather than same-day call-outs, which the suburb pages say plainly.