DIY
Air conditioner mounted on roof slipped a bit
I don't have a picture, but I could see from the window that the little legs in the back were messed up, too. What should I do?
Discussion
Go slow to not damage the connections, but you can just lift it up and reposition the feets. Make sure you use something to protect the rooftop if you're using a crowbar or similar to lever it up.
If the isolation system is broken, you probably just want to call out an HVAC company. If they truly just slipped apart, you can jack it back up. But, if it slipped off once, it likely wasn't installed properly in the first place or simply broken and will happen again.
There is ususally something like neoprene or a bushing between the upper and lower legs of the mount to dampen vibration - if that's missing or worn through it needs to be fixed first.
Those don't look like isolation mounts to me. It looks like they stacked the "stock" four plastic feet (top to top) on one side of the base in order to level it against the roof slope. Kind of "hacky" if you ask me. I'm not even sure those feet are attached to the roof or the base
That is very much a possibility and didn't even cross my mind someone would do something like that. We had isolation mounts that looked kinda like this, but between the two legs was a rubber puck that had a threaded shaft coming out of either end to bolt into the legs. I saw the black line between the upper and lower legs and assumed it was dampening material. If they stacked them...that's...a choice.
I'm guessing those feet aren't actually fastened to anything? Otherwise I don't understand how only one side shifted.
They used 4 foot mounts (2 end to end)
Wow, you guys are making me nervous. I don't live there, but I'll check if it's fastened down when I go up on Saturday.
This rooftop is very accessible-there are stairs going up there - and the tenant who just left had a tween boy, so it could be he was goofing around up there and bumped it. I'm wondering if it rotated around that one leg.
I would do this (since I am pretty sure the contractor just stacked some random plastic feet and nothing is attached):
- stack some 2x4s or other wood blocks to hold the plastic AC base at the correct angle
- remove the plastic feet, apply construction adhesive to the top and bottom of each foot and put them back in place at the corners of the base (basically where they are in the picture)
- Remove the wood blocks
Should be good to go until storm winds blow the whole thing off the roof.
Wow, thanks, everyone! It also did not occur to me that it might just be perched up there. I'll check it out.
Try to guilt-trip it into staying.
"How could you do this to me? I gave you everything! Electricity, fresh air, a great view? We can work this out! I'll throw in a little construction adhesive... come on!"
Fix it. You can do it solo if you use a pair of hand jacks. Search them on Amazon, Reddit won’t let me link them.
Don't even need that, just some blocks of wood would be enough if you need to hold it up for a sec
Yeah those things are way lighter than they look
If thara a half ton unit then it's about 130-150lbs