Roof Over Heat Pump

We have lots of heat pumps in our general area and have only seen one heat pump with a roof over it.

Roof over heat pump.

This article describes the recommended minimum and maximum distances to separate an air conditioner or heat pump outdoor compressor condenser unit from building walls other equipment fences shrubs etc in our photo at page top these two compressor condenser units are too close together as well as too close to the building walls. If you follow that guideline your warranty will be intact and you will be able to build a roof over your heat pump to protect it from the weather. This structure just happened to be beside the heat pump. The heat pump requires lots of air to work well.

My unit is in the shade all year and the air temperature difference between shade and sun exposure is quite large. And we built a roof over the unit to shed most of the rain and snow. Keeps direct sunlight off during cooling season. The heat pump is right off the back porch and deck.

This cycle normally lasts around 15 minutes and works by returning the hot refrigerant back to the outdoor heat pump to melt the ice and snow similar to how heat pumps work in the summer. I would like to put a roof flat and opened on all four sides over it to cut down on the noise it makes. We have never had snow inside ours. No freezing rain can put the blower out of balance with lopsided icing.

Clearance distances for outdoor hvac compressor condenser units. Is this a good idea. Every heat pump manufacturer has installation instructions that are available online inside you will find a section called clearances. There are several advantages to having a permanent roof over an outdoor heat pump.

Keeps snow away from the top and sides where it would impede. You need to keep snow away from it sides and top. What is the rule. My heat pump is on the north side of my home in arizona and i have a 3 foot roof overhang.

Heat pumps are manufactured to deal with an average amount of ice buildup by using its automatic defrost system and switching to heat distribution mode. Keeps rain leaves twigs and branches further away and keeps the unit cleaner. At a previous house where i had the problem of roof run off icing up my unit in winter i had an open style arch trellis like structure that went over the path at the side of the house. Structure was about 3 feet wide.

So it can work if you position your unit with energy conservation in mind.