We recently moved into a house, and we've noticed that the central air conditioners take up valuable space, not only with their footprint, but also they will likely blow hot air during use, making anything nearby uncomfortable to use.
My question: Is it feasible to relocate the air conditioners to the roof (near satellite dish)? If so, is this a bad idea for any reason, cost aside? I'm thinking there are probably four main concerns:
- air conditioners being more exposed to elements (I would think not a big deal, since they are already pretty exposed)
- ensuring the structure can hold the weight (not sure if it's possible to roughly estimate without a contractor)
- reroute electrical (I would think doable)
- reroute coolant lines (no idea, I know nothing about HVAC stuff)
To be clear: I am not going to do this myself; I will hire a professional. I just wanted to get unbiased opinions from the esteemed Stack Exchange community before talking to contractors. Thanks in advance!
Best Answer
I like it! On the roof isn't enough, let's put it on the roof of the roof's bump-out room. NICE!
Then, you'll need to add a tiny access bump-out on that roof...just a cherry on top of my thinking, instead of hauling out a ladder.
Yep, you're good to go and any structural issues could be fairly cheap and quick for their few hundred pounds by just doubling-up the rafters...pretty doubtful it would be needed.
It's definitely pricey and quite involved, but can absolutely be fully accomplished. You could even do a pretty little widow's walk style fence up there to beautify it. Not impeding air-flow is important, but shading the sides from the Sun is a performance and efficiency booster.