Hanging central air conditioner off brick foundation

[Jeffrey Pate]

Any issues with allowing the HVAC contractor to hang the central air unit with brackets bolted in to the 1925 brick foundation?  I will have had all the foundation tuckpointed before the install.  I am nervous it will vibrate the brick loose over time but have seen this approach used a few times on older homes.

[Steve Wilke-Shapiro]

Gut reaction is that hanging something heavy off the side of a masonry wall is not an optimum long-term solution.  It may, in fact be the best potential solution depending on the specific conditions, but here are some questions to ask:

1. What, if anything, prevents them from installing the condenser on a concrete pad at grade? This is usually the best solution in my opinion
2. How exactly do they propose attaching the bracket to the foundation?  Best case for attachment would probably be thru bolts with a plate on the inside to help spread out the load, depending on the construction of the wall.  Another potential solution to explore, again dependent on the construction of the wall, might be epoxied threaded rod (Hilti makes a system for this - we use it for deck ledger boards on occasion).
3. How are the brackets constructed?

Just as a point of explanation, unreinforced masonry foundations perform better in compression (supporting loads directly on top) than in tension (where loads are pulling/pushing it, like a bracket mounted to the side).  It's why many of our masonry basement foundation walls start to bulge in over time from the force of the ground and water outside.

Steve

On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 3:18 PM, Jeffrey Pate <jeffr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Any issues with allowing the HVAC contractor to hang the central air unit with brackets bolted in to the 1925 brick foundation?  I will have had all the foundation tuckpointed before the install.  I am nervous it will vibrate the brick loose over time but have seen this approach used a few times on older homes.

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[Me]

I like the idea of attaching an air conditioning compressor to the foundation of the home. My contractor doesn't like to do that, so what he does is put the condenser on four 8 or 10 inch feet on the pad so that the unit is off the ground. Getting the unit of the ground helps keep from blowing grass and debris into the condenser. A plugged or dirty condenser does not work efficiently.

It's not a perfect solution, but better than having the unit on the pad, in my opinion.

Roberta


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[Jeffrey Pate]

I like that option too.  I like the ease of cleaning and avoids settling of the concrete pad.