New BTO, One Warm Bedroom: Wardrobe Blocked Intake Air

One bedroom in a new flat runs warm and rework is proposed. Whether the install was wrong or the room changed after it.

By Team Snowflake | Updated 24 Aug 2026

Teaching case based on recurring Snowflake service patterns; identifying details are combined.

What gets specified

A new flat with indoor units positioned and joinery being designed around them. One bedroom is to receive a full-height fitted wardrobe running right up to the ceiling. The aircon layout and the joinery drawing exist entirely separately.

Setup: Midea Multi-splitNew installHDBTengah
Misread as: A newly installed unit that underperforms from the start, with rework needed in a finished room.
Check first: The joinery drawing laid over the services drawing before either is signed off

What the drawing does not show

An indoor unit draws air in along its top and front, and it needs clear space there to do it. That requirement is published as a minimum clearance and it is almost never carried onto a joinery drawing. Comparing the two before anything is built takes a few minutes, and it is the only point at which the problem is cheap to solve. Once the wardrobe is fitted, every remaining option costs real money.

Minimum clearances published for the indoor unit define the space its intake actually requires.
A full-height wardrobe finishing close beneath the unit reduces that space below the stated figure.
Separate aircon and joinery drawings mean neither party sees the conflict on their own sheet.
A room that would run warm from the very first day, without any fault existing, follows from the two combined.

Why it goes wrong

Services are set out early and interiors are designed later, and the two drawings are rarely laid over each other. A joiner working to a wall elevation sees a ceiling to build up to, not an intake to keep clear. Nothing about either decision is unreasonable on its own. The failure is that nobody compares them, and the consequence is discovered only when the room does not cool.

What the fix involves

The wardrobe is stopped short of the clearance the unit requires, or the unit is repositioned before joinery is made. Either costs almost nothing at drawing stage. The habit worth adopting is to lay the joinery drawing over the services drawing before either is signed off, because that overlay is where every clash of this kind becomes visible.

How to tell it worked

Clearance measured on site once the joinery is installed, against the published figure rather than by eye. A gap that looks generous from the floor is often well under what the unit needs.

Before you sign off

Lay the joinery drawing over the services drawing

Indoor units need published clearance at the intake. Joinery drawings do not carry that figure.
Both decisions are reasonable alone. The failure is that nobody compares the two sheets.
At drawing stage the fix is free. After the wardrobe is fitted, every option costs money.

Questions this case answers

One bedroom in my new BTO is warmer than the others, is the aircon faulty?

Not necessarily. Check the return-air clearance around the unit before blaming the equipment. It is published in the installation manual as a minimum, usually stated separately for above, in front of and to the sides of the unit, and those figures are what the rated airflow assumes.

Can carpentry affect how well an aircon cools?

Yes, fitted joinery can block the unit's return-air clearance even when the installation itself is correct. The two are produced separately, by different people at different stages: a joiner sees a wall and a ceiling, an installer sees a mounting position, and neither drawing shows the other's constraint.

How much space does an aircon indoor unit need around it?

As much as the installation manual's minimum clearance specifies, and no less. Interfering with it draws less air than the unit needs, so the room runs warm from the first day despite nothing being faulty, and the unit runs longer to achieve less.

What should I keep from my BTO aircon handover?

The clearance figures from the installation manual, and confirmation that the joinery drawing was laid over the services drawing. Stopping the joinery short of the clearance, or moving the unit, is trivial at drawing stage. It is expensive once the wardrobe is made, which is why that overlay check is worth insisting on early.

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