What Is the Difference Between a Rooftop AC & a Ground Unit AC?

Protection From Theft and Damage

• Ground unit air conditioners are prone to damage from items such as weed eaters and lawn mowers. In larger cities, thieves who want to part out the air conditioner and sell each of the separate parts steal ground units.

  With an air conditioner on your roof, you can prevent your air conditioner from mowing and weed eating damage. Rooftop units are also more difficult for thieves to access and steal without you noticing.

Noise

• Rooftop air conditioners create the same amount of noise as a ground unit; however, whenever you place the unit on your rooftop, you won’t hear as much of the noise if any.

  The noise is not as noticeable if you live outside of the city, but ground units are much noisier when the houses are close together as the noise bounces off the houses and creates excessive noise.

Access

• Ground units are much more easily accessible than rooftop units. Easy access is important considering you need to maintain your unit at least yearly. Also when the air conditioner is located on the rooftop, your options for connection to a water supply are limited. You can easily and quickly access a faulty ground unit and maintain it much quicker. It is also much easier to forget that your unit requires yearly maintenance when it is out of sight.

Location

• As the names suggest, a rooftop air conditioner is located on the roof of your home while a ground unit is located on the ground outside of your home. If you have a small yard, installing the unit on your rooftop can save you yard space. The average unit – either rooftop or ground – is 6 square feet. When you have a small yard, 6 square feet is a lot of space.