Mounting Ac Compressor On The Outside Walls

[haveaniceday]

This is very minor, but could be really important in the future, No, I am not doing the AC instillation my self of course, we are building a one level bungalow, I have always had compressors bolted to the walls, in the last couple of rentals, over time, the compressors tend crap out and vibrate and make noises, clearly needing a service, the landlords are " mai pen rai ", it got me thinking though, do folks who know a bit about this reconmend bolting them to the slab out side the walls ?

[transam]

Think best to bolt on the wall cos it keeps the critters out and clear of water, plus roof overhang keeps a bit of the rain off.

[Kwasaki]

Maybe the places you stayed in before had old units or as you say unserviced, the kits usually come with wall mounting brackets and units today are very quiet now, changing one of mine soon this year everytime it kicks in it wakes me up.

If you can run the piping and cables through a cupboard from an outside wall that certainly makes things even more silence, depends on your build design though of course.

Example.

plan.bmp

Edited January 10, 2012 by Kwasaki

[transam]

Maybe the places you stayed in before had old units or as you say unserviced, the kits usually come with wall mounting brackets and units today are very quiet now, changing one of mine soon this year everytime it kicks in it wakes me up.

If you can run the piping and cables through a cupboard from an outside wall that certainly makes things even more silence, depends on your build design though of course.

Example.

plan.bmp

Daikin inverter are really quiet, recommended, no clicking, fit and forget.

[ETatBKK]

if you build your own house, you may get some ideas from the modern condominium, that they have a 'roofed' sitting for the AC compressor. it is far better then bolt to the wall bracket.

for wall mounting, some installinging guys just apply 'plastic anchor plug' then bolt the mounting brackets. over time with the vibration, the brackets seem to loose and therefore magnify the vibration. bad for the AC compressor.

start with 10mm concrete anchor bolts ( steel ), apply spring washer and bolt the mounting brackets, may help. once I put rubber washers in-between compressor and the mounting brackets. but, the rubber washers hardener over time.

[bankruatsteve]

For me, most of the A/C units I've had installed are bolted to the slab (or if 2nd floor, bolted to slab outside that). Seems to be good so far.

[haveaniceday]

Well I see some merit in the roof overhang giving some protection, but, the apex of the roof is about 25 feet high anyway, I doubt mounting on the wall will offer much more protection than 5 feet up. I too have seen bolts work loose here, that is a concern. I think I will just mount them on the slab out the back where I can, and the room in the front of the house, just wall mounted on the side. Thanks for the tips

[bankruatsteve]

Anyway, it's not the rain to worry about - it's the dust. Most A/C shops recommend taking off the skins and spraying down the compressor once a year.

[katabeachbum]

Anyway, it's not the rain to worry about - it's the dust. Most A/C shops recommend taking off the skins and spraying down the compressor once a year.

rain is no problem, dust is as it makes fan blades non equal weight and thus start vibrating. in addition dust clogs the cooling fins. ice is a problem back home, but not often here

I prefer wall mounting as any flooding is avoided and no splash from slab when raining. preferably bolted to concrete beam. of course rubber feet between steel frame and compressor box

[haveaniceday]

Thanks, that's a good idea, dynerbolt it into concrete beams. each out side wall has two horizontal concrete reinforced beams, dust will be huge for us, for the next year anyway and I can't control the neighbors filled plot (dust bowl). I also didn't think of splash from the rain.

Sure they need to be well vented, but what about the compressor being in the direct sun? two of them cop the westerly hot after noon sun directly, I was thinking they may be is shadow a bit is on the slab and have a few plants around. Flooding, be it local or a big scale is not an issue. Tsunami is another matter though !!!

[ETatBKK]

that is the modern condominium AC sitting design :-) usually the AC sitting is shaded by Conwood panel, reducing the direct sun light and improve the efficiency of the heat exchange. the Conwood panel may screen out some dust too.

oh . . . prepare space for the maintenance guy too !

[Kwasaki]

Maybe the places you stayed in before had old units or as you say unserviced, the kits usually come with wall mounting brackets and units today are very quiet now, changing one of mine soon this year everytime it kicks in it wakes me up.

If you can run the piping and cables through a cupboard from an outside wall that certainly makes things even more silence, depends on your build design though of course.

Example.

plan.bmp

Daikin inverter are really quiet, recommended, no clicking, fit and forget.

They are the way to go but mine aren't old enough yet, that said have one A/C to replace this year.

One of the bedrooms we bought a cheap little Mr Slim Mitsubishi that is very quiet, impressed for the price.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Kwasaki

[Greenside]

We built a separate slab about 30cm away from the wall of the house which serves as the mount for two compressors. I wanted to minimise the sound and vibration but mostly avoid using the usually low quality supports that you see around as they seem to go rusty in no time. The cost and effort were very little.

I noticed that Samsung are making some of their models with a fibreglass case which seems like a good idea.

[astral]

My bedroom AC is on brackets bolted to the wall

the living room unit stands on rubber feet on the balcony

No noticeable difference in the noise from either.

Best to have the outside unit close to the inside to minimise pipe runs

and make sure the hole in the wall is directly behind the inside unit

to avoid unsightly pipes inside.

[Pacificperson]

I had some mud daubbers build a nest on the compressor fan blade. It made the unit vibrate something awful. It took a little bit of looking to figure it out. It wasn't until I turned if off that I saw the mud on the blade. Otherwise vibration has not been a big issue.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Pacificperson

[Pib]

A lot of the noise created by air con compressor units is not caused by how they are mounted to the wall or floor, but the metal casing/panels beginning to rattle and internal components/piping slightly toughing the casing causing metal-to-metal contact. Most casing sections are just screwed together with metal-to-metal contact using common metal screws which loosen and allow rattling...usually there is no cushion between the metal panels such as felt/rubber tape to help prevent the rattling. And internally, freon piping is usually very close to the metal causing and can actually be touching which creates another source of rattling.

I have 7 York A/Cs at my house with the compressor units mounted on the external wall with L-brackets and expanding bolts going into the concrete walls. No problem with the brackets/bolts causing any noise/coming loose for any of these A/C but two did develop an annoying rattling sound. Internally and externally the compressor unit, to include the fan, was clean. In both my cases the cause of the rattle was internal piping components just barely touching the outside metal casing...a very, very slight reposition/bending of the component (just a few millimeters) along with some cushion material placed between the pipe and casing as an extra measure made the rattle go away. Removing the case panel to access the components was easy and quick in my case.

And my mother-in-law has a Mitsubishi floor mounted compressor unit that was bolted to the floor but rattled big time. Once again, internally and externally the compressor unit was clean to include the fan. Got rid of that rattle by tightening up all the case/panel metal screws and also had to place a strip of cushion tape along one panel-to-panel contact as the even with tight screws the two panels still rattled against each other to a small degree.

Edited January 23, 2012 by Pib

[haveaniceday]

Thanks Pip, Very timely indeed !!!!