My contractor installed this system yesterday, at my property:
"Trane T4TTR6060C1000A RX16 5 TON XR16 A/C 16 SEER rating R410A".
Everything is working fine. I just do not like aesthetically how he put it. He turned the control panel to be at the front and the line set comes from the back to the front and connects from the front to the unit. I imagined the line set is supposed to come and connect from the back of the unit. So, all the pipes stay between the wall and the unit.
My contractor explained me that he cannot do it, because he needs 3 feet of clearance for the service area, and that will require to move the unit to much away from the wall if I want it to be connected from the back of the unit.
Question:
What should be a clearance area between a unit and a wall when a line set is connected from the back of the unit? And is it common practice to connect it from the front?
Here are also the pictures of that installation: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B7uO-n40pIiESGJBdmhlUnFkbDQ&usp=sharing
Best Answer
According to Trane installation instructions, the technician is correct. They do require 3' of clear space in front of the control box.
As for why the technician chose this orientation, I can only speculate. It looks to me like the access panel is on the corner of the unit, which would mean there has to be 3' clear space at the corner. Obviously the technician could not install the unit in these two orientations.
Since then the building would encroach upon the clear space required. This only left him with two choices.
Given these two choices, I would agree that the technician made the best choice. If the unit would have been installed in the other orientation, it would have potentially left the line sets in the path of folks moving through the gated area at the corner of the building.
In the end. If you're not happy with the installation, you should contact the company and discuss with them what options are available.