Puddin' Man wrote:
On Thu, 23 Mar 2006 13:56:00 GMT, "David Martel"
wrote:

Puddin,

If you remove the condenser's cover every few years,clean and paint it
then it won't rust.

This is pert near what I tried with the old one.

It didn't work. Rusted a bunch. Surface prep was
a severe PITA. Rust would bleed back thru after
painting.

This is routine maintenance. Putting a structure over
the condenser just creates another structure that requires routine
maintenance.

It can, yes. but it can also preserve the unit. You wouldn't think it
in MO, but the sun out there deteriorates most anything muy pronto.

What I'd like is to find good cheap material, make one. If it's
trashed in, say, 5 years, pitch it and make another. Etc, etc.

So far the only candidates are awning grade canvas and plywood.

I might consider maybe something like phenolic if it wasn't
so expensive.

Puddin'

For mine, I built a small gable roof out of scrap 3/8 ply then covered
it with left over shingles. It only covers the top and lips down an
inch on two sides to hold position. My concern was keeping the leaves,
etc out of the housing. Matches the house roof style/color, light and
easily removed/stored in the spring. It will last longer than the
house roof as it isn't as exposed to the weather.

Harry K

Harry K