Deck Minimum Clearance Over A/c Compressor

JonM

SelfContract

Perfect Picture explnation above !!... Rich people CAN afford ANY location unless they are :

1. NOT willing to pay high A/C electric bill per month;

2. HATE to replace another A/C when it failed sooner.

ambucon

3'+ is good

NickTech

sooooo! what happened, what was the outcome of the job?

hvaclover

Screw it, convert to a water cooled condensing unit.

flashheatingand

I'll bet that everything will work out alright if there is a grate like someone suggested. I was under the impression that this was an "entertainment" deck as opposed to a stair landing. That's why I thought the unit down below was an awful location. It did seem like a less than ideal situation, but it's their call. All we can do is warn them of the potential drawbacks. By the way, when you said convert the system to a side discharge, were you referring to changing the rotation of the cfm?

NickTech

no not at all. side discharge like a mini-split, or even like the ol' york tombstones, i'm sure there is some manu. out there with side discharge.

CliffHollen

Hey All,

Thanks a lot for the insight. I ended up having a very frank conversation with my client about the potential problems you all mentioned. The deck/landing was absolutely not optional, it was going to happen no matter what. She appreciates that at 21 years old the a/c is probably on its last leg anyway. We went ahead and built the deck with a 2x2 grate and when the a/c dies she is going to consider her options. Fortunately, it was a customer I have worked for before and I am pretty comfortable with this arrangement. Hopefully it doesn't come back to bite me.

Thanks again,

Cliff

NickTech

got any pics?

flashheatingand

Well, you mentioned thinking outside of the box and converting something to a side discharge, so I was wondering how you can turn a normal a/c into side discharge. The only thing I could think of was changing the rotation on the motor. I ran into a couple units this year that were blowing from top to bottom. The pressures were almost 400.

Changing the unit altogether would be "cheating".

NickTech

i've actually installed some goodman units with the CFM cap installed backwards from the factory making it run backwards. but thats not what i mean. i've taken the actual condenser coil and put it on its side and suspended it from a crawl space rafter so air is drawn from all around. i replaced the CFM with a vertical mount blower. so air is drawn through the condenser out the side. the opposite end of the coil was capped off, and the comp and controls were in a "dog house". it was really no big feat of engineering. i was mentored by a real old school character.

flashheatingand

Interesting, Did the coils stay relatively clean, or was it high maintenance. That's a pretty good "outside of the box". How far was the l.s. run?

NickTech

well i was there routinely every year for like 8-10 years doing maintainance blowing out the coil, checking preformance etc. the lines ran about 2-3' to the compresor and then about 20' to the evap. air was pulled in freely though a vent and the discharge was ducted to another vent on the opposite end of the crawl. so while the unit ran it also keep the area cool and relatively dry.