Ducted & VRF Air Conditioning

Whole-home comfort from a single concealed system — and for larger buildings, VRF technology that scales to dozens of zones. The biggest rebate dollars in the country sit on these upgrades.

Ducted Reverse Cycle: Whole-Home Heating and Cooling

A ducted system places one indoor fan-coil unit in the roof space, distributing conditioned air through insulated ducts to vents in every room. Modern zoned ducted systems let you condition only the areas in use, dramatically improving running costs over old-school constant systems.

Home size	Typical ducted capacity
Small home / single level to ~140 m²	10 – 12.5 kW
Standard family home 140 – 200 m²	12.5 – 16 kW
Large / two-storey 200 – 280 m²	16 – 20 kW
Very large homes 280 m²+	20 kW+ or dual systems

Zoning, ceiling insulation and duct quality matter as much as raw kilowatts — a proper heat-load calculation is part of any accredited rebate quote.

VRF: The Commercial-Grade Option

Mini VRF has become the quiet star of Victorian gas-ducted conversions. Compact VRF outdoor units in the 15–24 kW range run multiple wall-mounted heads with full per-room modulation — whole-home coverage without ceiling ductwork, and certificate values to match the big rebates. If your home lacks roof space for ducted, this is the architecture your accredited provider will likely quote.

At full commercial scale, Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF/VRV) systems run multiple indoor units — wall, cassette, ducted — from networked outdoor units, modulating refrigerant flow to each zone independently. It's the standard architecture for offices, medical suites, hospitality and large multi-level homes: precise per-zone control, simultaneous heating and cooling in some configurations, and excellent part-load efficiency. For commercial premises, energy scheme incentives can apply to qualifying high-efficiency HVAC upgrades — worth checking before any fit-out or end-of-life replacement.

The Biggest Rebates in the Country Sit Here

Victoria's VEU program pays its largest residential incentives for replacing ducted gas heating with ducted reverse cycle — this is the headline "$5,500+ off" upgrade, reflecting the huge lifetime energy savings of moving a whole home off gas. A $1,000 co-payment applies to ducted installs. In NSW, ducted reverse cycle systems qualify under the ESS for both replacements and new installations, with discounts scaling with system efficiency and size.

FAQs

Is ducted gas to ducted reverse cycle really worth it?

Usually, yes — it's the single biggest rebate in the country (Victoria), and reverse cycle heating costs roughly a quarter of equivalent electric resistance heating to run, with major savings over gas too. Add the upfront discount and payback periods are often just a few years.

What's the difference between VRF and multi-split?

Architecture and scale. Multi-splits run 2–5 heads off one fixed-capacity outdoor unit. VRF modulates refrigerant flow across many indoor units and zones — it's the commercial-grade version, suited to offices and very large homes.

Do I need roof space for ducted?

Yes — the indoor unit and duct runs live in the ceiling cavity (or underfloor in some designs). No roof space is the main reason homes go multi-split instead.

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