Air condition compressor concrete pad failure

[Stormin Mormon]

Also looks a bit too close to the house. Not enough space between the unit and the wall.

[Stormin Mormon]

Well, they shouldn't be. There should be depressions in the bottom of the AC which act as feet.

Might be part of the problem?

[nospambob]

[nowforsale]

all concrete cracks (eventually)

concrete is its hardest at around 100 years of age

consider using Quickrete Concrete Resurfacer on your existing base to repair it, about $25 a bag

resurfacer adheres to concrete something like 3 times better than concrete adheres to itself to itself, and due to the polymers in it, it resists water better than concrete (water seems to be the reason for the spalling of your base)

trowel it on, instruction on how to use concrete resurfacer

[trader4]

I'm with those suggesting doing nothing. It doesn't look that bad to me. Is there any indication that the unit is loose/moving on the base? As long as the base is stable, not moving, the unit is level, I would probably leave it alone.

If you want to fool with it, then I'd consider using some Trex decking material to completely cover the concrete. The way the unit is sitting on legs, it would be easy to slip that under it. I'd use construction adhesive to fasten the Trex to the concrete, then use screws to fasten the unit to the Trex. You might have to shorten the brackets unless there is enough give in the tubing to allow the unit to come up the thickness of the Trex.

[HeatMan]

27 years old and costing you a ton of money to operate, if you live in the South. Since you don't, that's fine.

Around here, anything over 20 years is ancient.

[mm]

btW, DOESN'T lifting the compressor eveen a half inch risk causeing a leak in the pipes?

I think I'm bend-shy, because when I was 21, I twisted a copper water pipe 10 degrees, just below a faucet, and a couple months later it started to leak.

Another time, a friend had a metal shower stall out and was letting the pipes move back and forth a couple inches at 4 feet high, and one snapped, sending water all over the bathroom.

Is it 100 percent safe to lift the compressor even a half inch, that is, no risk of causing a leak?

[lp13-30]

mm-- from looking at the OP's pictures, it looks like the lines have plenty of slack the way they are run up to the attic, so the unit could most likely be lifted up to an inch or so without much risk of damage-- IF done very carefully. Most residential a/c lines are soft copper with silver soldered joints, whereas a lot of plumbing is rigid copper with soft soldered joints. I have leveled a bunch of a/c units and(knock on wood) have yet to cause a leak. Larry

[mm]

That's encouraging. My AC pipes run only a foot to the wall. Do you think that would be enough space to flex also? (I don't know why I ask, since I'm still going to be too afraid to move it back two inches at the end away from the house. Someday the thing will break, and the installer can straighten it out when he replaces it.)

OTOH, sometimes I have reckless moments and I may get overwhelmed by the desire to straighten it out.

BTW, I should have said that the shower pipe that snapped was iron.