Hey all,
I recently moved into a new build and these shrubs were planted around the ac unit. The first picture was taken early April and the second was last Friday. Are these too close to the unit? They are growing pretty fast which has me worried.
Thanks,
by Icebreaker80
20 Comments
Yes. Even if they were fully mature they’d be a little too close.
As they get older they will keep the AC unit from pulling outside air.
100%. You need to move them.
Rip out the plants and replace the mulch with rock. Mulch has a terrible habit of being blown around and picked up by the wind. Then it ends up on the coils reducing the efficiency of the unit.
I’d rather be comfortable in my home than worry about how it looks from the outside.
Those shrubs are young, they’ll barely notice being moved elsewhere.
Yup i’d remove them and let it breath!
Yes
My subdivision did this, but with Holly bushes. I pulled one out completely this year and have trimmed the others back. It’s idiotic to me that they did this. People don’t even mow their yards or change ac filters. In a couple years the whole neighborhood is going to have problems. In a decade there are going to be people who can’t even find their condenser.
They will be next year. Move them 10 feet out.
You need about 2ft of breathing room around the unit, minimum.
Right now, NO. But give them a few years and 100% too close
You need at least three feet between shrubs and the unit–so look up the diameter of a full mature whatever-this-is, divide in half, and then add three feet to find the proper distance away it should be planted. And normally I don’t recommend rock in a bed, but here it would be better than the wood mulch you have right now. The more crap you can keep from getting into your AC unit the better, and mulch makes for a lot of crap.
Too close as the bushes grow
Longtime HVAC tech. They’re fine, and will continue to be fine as long as you keep them from actually growing into the unit. The ambient outdoor air flows in through the sides of the unit, which the bushes don’t affect at all, and then the hot air comes out the top. The important thing is that that air coming out the top is completely unobstructed (for at least 5′) so that it doesn’t get forced back down toward the unit. If or when those bushes get big enough to where it’s a nuisance to keep a little bit of space around the unit, you can replace them with something that stays smaller.
Today no tomorrow yes
They are fine. Just make sure they don’t grow into the unit. Plenty of room.
Eventually, but you probably have a while tbh. How long do you plan on living there?
Leave the one that blocks the midday sun,,
ive had plants all over ac units, no issues so far
Thought code was 1 ft clearance min.