I have a very good friend, a buddy, a pard, who is a retired Master Electrician. He came over yesterday to help me with the new shop air conditioner. We didn't do any lifting or toting. What we did do is open the panel, ensure that the wiring and breaker could handle the load, then went to the wall and installed a new 230v/30 amp receptacle. I know now that everything is up to code and the shop can handle the load. We are golden on the electrical side.
Next, I called my crew and set it up to have stout men available late this afternoon. Three good men, plus me, be sufficient for getting that AC unit in the wall.
I have done the measuring. The plan is to slide the old chassis out of the cabinet in the wall, then slide the new unit, cabinet and all, into the old cabinet. This plan worked fine last year. It's the same plan as last year. The new unit is just a wee bit smaller than the old unit, and there is no real reason to remove the old cabinet, which is braced and screwed to the building.
The one glitch is that I used, eight years ago, a common product to seal the unit to the building to make it watertight. Great Stuff foam sealant, to keep rain out.. That product is aptly named; it is very good at sealing cracks and crevasse. It has also glued the chassis into the cabinet. I have been on a ladder this morning, digging it out of the gaps.
The crew will be here late this afternoon. We'll get the old one out and the new one in.
A Sawsall long blade should work. Or a hacksaw blade in some vice grips. I have some rogh hole drill bits with burrs on the side that could carve the stuff out but they aren’t super long. You might just have to bite the bullet and put in a new cabinet. If so, this time stuff the gap with foam insulation and smear silicone caulk on the outside.
ReplyDeleteA Dry Wall Rasping Jab Saw works great on that stuff, especially if you are digging, IMHO.
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