So you decided to put the new deck there?

We installed a new heat pump for a homeowner, who later put in a backyard deck with railings. Only problem was that one of the railings blocked access to an electrical disconnect ‘peanut box’ needed for the outdoor heat pump unit. Thereby making it a safety hazard, as well as a challenge for any kind of maintenance on the unit (always best to work on a unit that is not ‘hot’ with 80 amps of 220V power surging through it).

Somehow the deck installation contractor never noticed this, nor evidently did the permit inspector.

Thankfully, the homeowner did notice that this would be a problem and called us out for a relocation if the peanut box.

On a similar note, Evergreen’s owners, the Kimball family, had a summer vacation rental in Outer Banks, North Carolina. This home had an AC outdoor unit that was covered over top by an outside deck stair landing. Since the top of any AC outdoor unit is where the exhaust air discharge is, any blockage means a ‘recycling’ of hot air, or the AC will not properly work. The Kimballs were ‘cooking’ in this rented building and called the owners on a solution, replacing the wood landing with a metal grate to allow the exhaust air to escape!

The moral to this story is any outside construction near your AC or heat pump outdoor unit needs to consider all access factors. Please call us if you see any potential problems for a solution.