I've read somewhere that the outdoor AC unit needs to be leveled. My outdoor unit is a bit slanted due to the floor not being completely flat (pic below). However, I don't see any obvious structural issues. Is this something I need to correct? Perhaps by sticking a small piece of wood on one side? Refrigerant needs to flow through the coils evenly without too much interference from the slope of the unit. A level concrete slab with rubber pads between the unit and the concrete is what the manufacturers recommend. "Mostly level" is probably okay for a residential unit. Get a half-inch thick outdoor rubber mat and cut it into 6"x6" squares. Put single pieces on the high side and stack several pieces under the low side to bring the unit closer to level. Be careful not to kink or damage the refrigerant piping to the unit when you do that. If you damage the lines when you raise the unit to insert the pads, you will wish you had left it alone. Did you find this question interesting?

Sign up for our newsletter and get our top new questions delivered to your inbox (). It should be as level as possible. The previous posts make good mention of rubber mat 6x6" squares and careful approach to only tip the unit as little as possible not to kink any lines. If you don't hire a professional and aren't confident by yourself to address the issue, having a second person watch the lines while you tip can save much potential trouble. Previous information from these posts also generate ambiguity over the importance of having the unit level in regards to the compressor. Leveling the unit will terminate any ambiguity. An additional concern not previously adressed is the compressor and/or fan bearings. An off level unit will put additional unintended mechanical stress/strain on these rotating components long-term. Therefore for best performance and longevity of your unit, level it and take special precautions in the process. Outside A/C compressors are typically supported on a concrete pad, concrete blocks, or a vinyl pad such as the one shown in the photo at page top.

The air conditioner compressor support pad should be level and secure against movement. Compressors which are badly out of level may fail to function properly and need adjustment. Tipping and moving compressors can also cause can cause leaks in refrigerant lines, leading to costly air conditioning service calls to evacuate and recharge the system after repairing the refrigerant leak. Do not try to move your A/C compressor yourself as you might cause a refrigerant leak or may otherwise damage the equipment. For slightly-tipped air conditioning compressors we generally leave them alone but we add support as needed to avoid further movement. Not being level can cause the oil for the compressor to not lubricate correctly. Over time it will cause the compressor to burn out costing you lots of $ in the long run. For a professional appearance it should not appear to be set without a thought to anything but function as if a war time situation where getting online asap is the priority.

The thought that an AC unit must be absolutely level or its wont work or work well is based on absorption type systems RV's used in the old days that used ammonia and a flame rather than a compressor. Technically speaking, no it matters not if its level or even close to it, it can be at a slant but will look weird. Our unit was off level quite a bit which caused damage that first caused it to perform badly before it quit completely and had to be replaced prematurely. car ac repair videoIt was installed in 2000.what does it cost to replace an ac unit My outdoor a/c fan, condensing unit was making a metal sound when going on and off, that I thought was too loud. cheap ac units for windowsThe fan blades seemed OK. I checked to see if the unit was level, and it wasn't.

In fact it was quite a bit out of level. I leveled it, and now it is very quiet. I was trying to explain special relativity to a few friends in a simple way and wound up with an analogy using a c unit circle. I was using y as travelling in time, x moving in space; move in space and you are borrowing from your clock-speed. E.g. the twin paradox: Your travelling twin has borrowed clock-speed. Twins clock was slower -> twin is younger. What is the problem with representing relativity using a (c) unit circle from an observers point of view? Anything Lorentz or Minkowski would be out of the question of course, I'm looking for a layman friendly description that is close to true. The circle discussed, was in my mind a half circle $y>=0$. Where $y=0$ would be a photon. Your model is not only useful for layman, but it does also have physical importance. One thing needs to be clarified: Your diagram is not a Minkowski diagram (permitting Lorentz transforms). In particular, your y-axis is not coordinate time (as in the Minkowski diagram) but proper time.

I proposed a similar scheme in Minkowski spacetime: Is there a signature (+,+,+,+)? By the way, the advantage of such a diagram is that it permits an improved description of time (because any time derives from proper time). Currently we describe time only by the means of Minkowski diagrams – however, Minkowski diagrams were made for Lorentz transformation and not for a description of what time is. Einstein (i think) used a simple example. Travelling upon a photon and looking himself in a mirror. Would he be able to look at his mirror-image or not? Einstein (and Lorentz et al) said yes, as such light (should) travels with same constant speed $c$ in all (inertial) frames of reference. Then read Einstein's original 1905 paper (On the electrodynamics of moving bodies) which derives all Relativistic/Lorentz transformations based on this principle (of constancy of speed of light) only. i think this is good intuitive explanation and analogy.Browse other questions tagged special-relativity twin-paradox or ask your own question.