Prep Genrl Shading your air conditioner

[nomifyle]

There was a post on FB about shading your air conditioner. It was shaded with a big unbrella. I forwarded it to DH and he's decided to shade ours. He's building a frame up above the unit. At first he was going to use a tarp but he decided to use wood. He's got plenty of wood. Maybe it will help.

 

[BassMan]

Just allow plenty of room for air to blow from the fan: don't trap heat.

 

[kyrsyan]

Mine is in a deeply shaded section of the yard. The AC guys said that went a long way to how long and how well the unit had held up. Not hard to shade them but I've generally seen lattice used so that it's shaded but heat doesn't end up trapped.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Just allow plenty of room for air to blow from the fan: don't trap heat.

If you have a standard HVAC unit where part is outside and part inside ... if your indoor part is in the attic or in a closet, please check those as well for air flow. And check your filter. In our experience it is better to use a cheap air filter and change it monthly than it is to use the more expensive filters that are supposed to last three months between changes.

Air flow, air flow, air flow.

And make sure your fins and coils are clean.

 

[nomifyle]

Just allow plenty of room for air to blow from the fan: don't trap heat.

He did that just fine. He built it high enough (I didnt measure, but it gives more than enough room for air flow. and its three or four times as wide as the unit itself. I just looked at it and it looks great. good shade and excellent room for air flow, several feet about the unit.

We had the unit itself serviced last year.