Hi Spinal,
I'm in the process of getting A/C installation quotes. The company I am using is called Climazon.ch.
To answer your question, permission is only needed for a big units above 45db sound levels when the AC is running flat out at maximum cooling. Then you factor in how far away are your neighbors and the distance to the edge of your property boundary from the Fan location. This is because the sound is measured at just 1 meter from the fan in the spec sheet. But what if your neighbours are 20 meters away ? They wont hear anything. So maybe you consider something stronger. They also have 14kw 16kw and 18kw versions.
The best AC unit I could find from Climazon thats rated maxmium 45db was only 9.3kw / 6kw. 7500fr installed with one wall unit upstairs or 9600fr for 2 wall units, one on each floor. This is the Mitsubushi Diamond Star and has an optional water heater that I am considering called Ecodan. It comes with either a 3 or 5 circuit splitter. In silent mode it only makes 19db. But power is half.
What does 9.3kw / 6kw mean and what can it do ?
Air cooling 6kw total shared over multiple wall units.
Air heating 9.3kw total shared over multiple wall units.
Dehumidify
Heat multiple radiator circuits up to 9.3kw and 55c with the pump. More with back up heat sticks turned on.
Heat multiple hot water tanks
Heat underfloor tiles ( bathroom kitchen )
COP is 5.2 to 1. Which means 1kw at 22p gives 5.2kw of heat. At full power 9.3kw uses 1.7kw. In winter once your house is warm you only need a small amount of energy to keep it warm if you are insulated well. So for example my brand new diesel boiler only heats the radiators to 35c at night for 18c set back room temps and about 40 to 42c for 20c room temps in the morning. I run the set back most of the day or the house gets too hot, at 35c radiator temp they are only rated 3.5kw, 42c is 5.6kw So the small Diamond Star Air Con 9.3kw heat pump will probably be ok to keep the house warm in winter by warming up the radiators and not using wall units. For summer it can cool the house from the wall units.
Obviously I will need to turn off the Diesel boiler when the Ecodan is heating up the radiators. We can't have both running at the same time or there will be a clash of KWs.
Performance is something very important to consider. Think of your diesel heating oil boiler like a sports car and the heap pump is like a slow bus.
The diesel boiler will warm up the radiators from cold to 50c in about 40 mins and by 1 hr they will be 60c +. Your house can warm up very quickly with diesel heating oil. But I don't know how strong or how quickly the Ecodan responds until I install it and try it out. I think it will be slower than diesel.
It can not do cooling and heating at the same time. This sounds a bit dumb to say but its only one direction at a time. Forwards or Backwards not both. In summer if you have cooling on, you can't also heat up a hot water tank while its in cooling mode.
In winter it can heat up 5 circuits in a mix of Radiators and Hot water. But there is a problem to consider, for some reason Mitsubushi programmed a hot water priority into the Ecodan and splitter.
If you are from the UK then a Gas heating system can do both at the same time. Reheat a hotwater tank while keeping the radiators warm. This Mitsubushi system will turn off all the radiators everytime someone takes a shower and the hotwater tank needs refilling it diverts 100% of the energy to refill the hotwater tank. After 1hr the radiators will be cold.
If the plumber can't by pass this non sence I will have to keep my diesel boiler just to heat up the hot water tank. I don't want radiators turning off for 2 or 3 hours every morning and evening while people are taking a bath or shower.
By comparison my neighbors spent 100,000 fr on a ground heat pump 2 years ago. This ground pump cant do Air Conditioning or Dehumidifying. And its a bit of a gas guzzler, the COP is 3 to 1. He said his electric bill increased by 3000 fr per year after he also connected his swimming pool and EKZ increased their prices. In total he is now using over 6000 fr of electric per year. Hes very pissed off about this, he invested 100k and afterwards his electric running costs are more than diesel used to be.
And his house is now too hot in winter and summer.
Hopefully with a highly efficient Diamond Star I will have AC for summer and low cost heating in winter.
I hope this helps.
Derek