Ok, I suppose it's time for me to explain my purpose in posting these pics.
First, I'll answer some of the questions you asked.
The insulation over the "line set" (refrigerant lines) is simple closed-cell foam rubber. Sometimes, especially in industrial settings, this is then covered by a herder plastic shell. There is a company making a wiremold-like raceway for a really neat look, but I've never seen it used.
Every air conditioner (except for the smallest window units) has two basic assemblies. One is the "condenser;" that's what you see here. Inside the house, inside an air duct, is the other part- the "evaporator." In operation, the condenser gets hot, while the evaporator gets cold. This cold results in condensation on it- hence the litle drains you see poking out of the wall. They come from the evaporators.
Several of you noted that you could not see any thermostat wire. Good point; many times pics like mine will be shown, and it will be asserted that the low voltage t-stat wire must be in with the power wires, and thus a possible code violation.
My pic of the open disco shoots that theory down.
There are two other explanations for the "missing" t-stat wire. The first is that the HVAC guy ran it along with his line set, and it is buried under that foam rubber.
There is also another type of system that operates on the principle of pressure drop; when the inside needs cooling, the pressure in the refrigerant lines will drop- and that, in turn, will start the thing up.
The "moral" here is: You need to learn at least the basics of the other trades, to work with them effectively.
Oh, the violation? On this $1.5 million house, with over 100 receptcles....there is no receptacle fir servicing the equipment.
[This message has been edited by renosteinke (edited 03-15-2006).]
