Hi, James...long time, no see.  You forgot to mention that those po' compressors will probably die an early death while costing more to operate.

Hello Mr. Brezeale, yes indeed it has been sometime. Hope your busy.

You bring up a good point, these units will die an early death because of these issues. But like most appliances people don't give much thought to maintaining them until there is a problems.

Great information on this post.

I would also like to point out a mistake I see builders make around here quite frequently is placing the dryer exhaust vent behind or too near the outside A/C unit, which also causes it to work harder, and the cooling fins to clog with lint and debris.

Kevin,

That's not just around your area and your is an excellent point. I have seen that quite often here as well. I did an inspection on a townhouse condo a short while back where all the units dryer vents were just to one side of the A/C compressors. Must of been 8-10 homes all identically installed.

Ditto to that.  What's worse, I can't imagine a builder, or HVAC subcontractor either, for that matter, who would actually be unaware that this can cause a problem.  I think they are just blissfully aware that it will never cause a problem for THEM.  When I see those situations, it is often one in which location of the condenser unit is a matter of convenience for the builder or sub, or there are eye appeal issues that take precedence over practicality.  But more often it has something to do with a few bucks or a little liability.  Extending a line set means more copper and the possibility of failure of a field weld, not to mention the time it takes.  As for eye appeal, who wants that ugly condenser unit sticking out like a sore thumb in front of all those pretty little box shrubs, or interrupting the line of carefully laid mulching?  This is a SPEC home, for gosh sakes, and it has to sell QUICK!!!