Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I have a 6 foot setback on the side of my house to the property line. I am looking to relocate the A/C compressors to this side of the house, and shoe-horn them in there. There is no walkway there, just covered foliage, hidden from the street. Some HVAC guys are saying this is a no go, and I need a variance, and it opens up a huge can of worms. Other HVAC guys are saying this is not a problem.
Does anyone have any stories of getting heavily fined? Or needing to spend true $$ to relocate again and rerun condenser lines if asked to move back? Or do people do this all the time?
A lot of it depends on access. Electrical items like this generally need about 36" of clear space in front of open panels for access.
I'd trust the ones saying you need a variance more than the ones that say you don't, but you need to check with your town's buildings department. It's literally a phone call that will actually get you a real answer if you need a variance or not.
I have a 6 foot setback on the side of my house to the property line. I am looking to relocate the A/C compressors to this side of the house, and shoe-horn them in there. There is no walkway there, just covered foliage, hidden from the street. Some HVAC guys are saying this is a no go, and I need a variance, and it opens up a huge can of worms. Other HVAC guys are saying this is not a problem.
Does anyone have any stories of getting heavily fined? Or needing to spend true $$ to relocate again and rerun condenser lines if asked to move back? Or do people do this all the time?
Look at the ordinances for your township which could be online. You would also want to talk with the township because you want to make sure there isn't some other issue you aren't aware of.
It is best to do this, because the last thing you want is a neighbor suing you which would be costly, annoying and you'd end up having to relocate it to correct it anyway.
A/C compressor can be very loud for neighbors, while you might not be aware of it from inside your home at all. I would look into building a noise barrier around it too.
Don't do it if it doesn't fall under the ordinance. Then a neighbor calls the town, and bam, you have to move them after paying all of that money to relocate them. Call the town and find out. They are usually nice people who want to help
We live on a corner in South Orange, NJ and we had to get a permit and/or variance (I wasn't dealing with it directly, but it took a few weeks) to put the external unit from our ductless system on the side of our house. I'd make sure whatever your doing is permitted.
I can't remember. I think it was done just before the revaluation, so our taxes changed anyway. I'll confess I haven't gotten too deep into our taxes. They are plenty high, but they've been close enough to similar properties around us.
Fellow Ridger here. We just installed AcC this fall/winter. It took that long because the town is being very strict about placement on the side of the house. Ours was in the allotted space and below the volume limit. We eventually got approved but it took forever because our AC guy didn't know the right way to go about it. We eventually called and got it straightened out but it took a lot of work and time to get it approved. I would recommend someone who works in the town a lot, Bloomfield heating and cooling or air group.
Why haven't you just called the building department yet?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
