Ways to Make the Outside Condenser 'Disappear' in the Landscape

When the summer heat takes hold in northwest Arkansas, you’re bound to be extremely grateful for your home air conditioner. One thing about split-system central A/Cs, however, is that the outside condenser unit can sometimes spoil the overall look of your home. Fortunately, there are ways to disguise the condensing unit so that it fades into the background.

Plants

Plant vegetation in front of and to the sides of the condenser. It’s fun to go to the local garden nursery and choose shrubs that appeal to you – flowering shrubs, evergreen bushes and quick-growing hedge plants are easy to find.

Ornamental grasses are ideal for disguising a condenser as they don’t have very deep root systems, are low maintenance, and don’t grow to an enormous size – three to four feet is their usual height. Grasses like these are attractive and come with feathery or flowery tops. With any plants or other objects, make sure they’re three feet away from the condenser unit so it has plenty of airflow.

Check that irrigation systems for your plants are not wetting the condenser unit as this may cause corrosion and rusting.

Fences

An alternative to vegetation, fences are barriers that need little to no maintenance. However, if space is at a premium, a fence may not be the best idea because as stated before, you need to leave at least three feet of space around the unit. Make sure there’s enough space for a technician to do maintenance work, and install a gate wide enough to fit the unit through in case it has to be replaced at any stage.

Fences, especially if they are reasonably high and have a lockable gate, do offer a secure place to store garden tools, hose pipes and other small outdoor items.

Additional Benefit

The additional advantage of disguising your condenser is that it also will protect the unit from the view of thieves who have their eyes on the copper tubing. Theft of copper from outdoor A/C and heat pump components is a growing problem In the U.S.

If you want advice on making your condenser “disappear” into the landscape, please contact us at Paschal Heat, Air & Geothermal today. One of our certified contractors will be only too willing to assist.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Springdale, Arkansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about outside condensers and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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