Changing out a heat pump stand with unit in situ

Lion_Heart · September 22

Hi all

I have a 36,000 BTU unit which was installed on a Senville stand around 4-5 years ago.

The Senville stand has rusted quite badly (Canada) and concerned about it's ability ongoing.

I want to change the stand over to an aluminum one (height is almost identical, and can dig out/add a think layer of stone as required to match height 100%).

But I don't want the expense or hassle of having the system drained and refilled, and so I ideally want to do it with the unit in place.

Understand that the hard lines must not move, and am considering building a temporary frame of some kind to hold it in place whilst the stand is changed over.

Does anyone here have experience with this process?

pecmsg · September 22

Can it be done….Yes.

Just remember 1 mistake and that minor fee to pump the system down gets really expensive!

Lion_Heart · September 22

I'm in Canada. The minor fee was $600 that last time I had it done.

Hoping to avoid that, especially as it's not needed.

ratio · September 22

If you're careful, it's not too difficult. There is often some give to the copper as well: soft copper (linesets) are, well, soft; and even if it's hard pipe (ACR), well, it's still copper.

Jut don't drop it, & get it back to the same elevation.

pecmsg · September 22

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1865685#Comment_1865685

The replacement refrigerant will be 2X that + labor

Your risk!

Kaos · September 22

I had to do pretty close to this, my case swapping for wall mount to ground mount (note, wall mount on studs is a very bad idea).

Used a longer ladder over the unit and suspended it with two ratchet straps on one of the rungs. The unit is much heavier on the compressor side so make sure it is properly supported on that end.

Used the ratchet straps to take the load off the existing mount then simply removed the wall mount and built new ground mount under it. Dropped it back down once done. The outdoor unit had barely moved.

Lion_Heart · September 22

Thanks for the input, much appreciated!

I hadn't considered lifting it from above using a ladder an ratchet straps. I had considered lifting from above, but was concerned it might want to move too much so was looking to build a frame wider than the base to support it from underneath (no movement). I considered adding a bolt and nut to the frame legs in some way to make them adjustable (i.e. to lift the unit a couple of mm clear, and then easily remove the old stand knowing the weight is support, kind of a micro jack).

It's given me extra thoughts, appreciate the input 👍️

Lion_Heart · September 22

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1865695#Comment_1865695

For $1200 plus labor for replacing the refridgerant, I'll definitely try doing the stand swap over!!! I don't need that cost in my life (if I can avoid it) 👍️

EdTheHeaterMan · September 22

Place a ladder over the outdoor unit and suspend the unit with the proper straps to handle the weight. I actually owned something that was made for lifting condensing units to a roof using a ladder as the crane support. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1sE-y3RadDc But you can just use straps on the ladder to lift the unit a few inches.

EBEBRATT-Ed · 12:27AM

Use two straps one side to side and one front to back so the unit can't fall out of the sling

EBEBRATT-Ed · 12:34AM

@EdTheHeaterMan

I used a ladder crane a couple of time to lift compressors to a roof. Didn't like it much. The shop I worked for thought it would save money instead of having two men on the job.

Is the one in the video electric? The one we had fit on the ladder rungs and you had to crank it like starting an old car. Cranking and having to push the ladder out to have the compressor clear the building was risky.

I worried about the ladder feet kicking out and would brace it against my truck when I could.

EdTheHeaterMan · 2:08AM

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1865742#Comment_1865742

I owned the electric version. and all roof top jobs needed 2 men to operate the ladder crane. Once the two men part of the job was completed, the second mechanic could go do other work. or if it was a helper without a truck, then he stayed as a runner from the roof to the truck and learned how to use a vacuum pump and micron gauge.

Changing out a heat pump stand with unit in situ

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