Heat Pump Outdoor Unit Locations
Hi all,
So we’ve finally started the install of our cold climate (zone 6, NH) Fujitsu 3 ton heat pump, and I’m trying to identify the least awful location for the outdoor unit. The spot I had originally been thinking is out of the line of sight while approaching the house which is nice, and close to where the elec. panel will be in the basement, so also a plus.
Here are the big negatives (crappy drawings attached):
1. it’s north facing, so it’ll get almost no sun, so not great.
2. it’s underneath a roofline that has no overhang, so that sucks.
The builder has recommended snow guards on the standing seam steel roof, at the minimum, and remote mounting the OD unit away from the house and snow line at an extreme. The unit’s submittal lists 246′ for max line set.
I also thought about setting it off the wall a bit more than the minimum, and maybe building a matching steel single pitch roof that stands off from the unit?
Any other good ideas?
Thanks, as always.
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Replies
Negative 1 is not big, it's negligible.
great, thank you. Thoughts on #2 ?
Doesn't take much to keep the snow off the unit. I would build a mini roof above it to using the siding material.
I would stay within 100' line length. Once the techs have to start brazing to extend, you run into issues especially if they don't back purge with nitrogen.
Snow guards on the roof are a must. The section doesn't show eaves throughs, drips from snow melt on the roof are a bigger problem than snow. Definitely a mini roof over the unit.
Yeah, there is literally no overhang. Modern...Scandinavian...whatever.. :(
I think I'll go with the mini roof. The standing seam guys doing the roof and siding could just bang it out, I'm sure.
Are there heavy duty stands that are better than others? Or should I just weld up a custom one to get it higher than off the shelf units?
There are heavy duty tall stands but they cost a fair bit. If you can weld it up, I would go for it, better in the end. That stand there I made from galvanized pipe and fittings (stuff I could find at the small hardware store in the middle of nowhere), the mount to the unit is a set of U clamps turned upside down with the unit mounted onto one leg of the U.
You can assemble a pretty solid stand using strut and its associated fittings, but a welded stand would be even better. I like to put vibration isolators between the stand and the unit too, and make sure to allow a loop or bend in the lineset to provide a bit of vibration isolation between the unit and the wall of the house too.
BTW, keeping the length of the lineset as short as possible is more important than trying to minimize the length of the electrical wiring. This is for both performance and cost reasons.
Bill
Id agree with other comments on here. No real need to move it, benefits would be minor and unlikely worth the hassle.
Snow covers could be very easy and worthwhile.