Off level

My outside condensor unit is off level,and has become that way over time.(i guess due to ground setteling) It has an off level towards the rear of unit. Although it shows no visable signs of stress,or lines being pulled (refrig., thermostat lines) As i was more concerned with undo stress or premature uneven wear this might be causing to any bearings,fan shaft etc., or moving parts when the unit is on? If unhooked to level the earth below the pad, from all service lines would re charging the unit be necessary? Thanks to all ,and HVAC licensed folks for advice and help!

I would not un-hook anything due to the costs.

I would consider this a foundation project.

I've tunneled under a lot bigger things and jacked them up using a small 20ton bottle jack I bought a long time ago.

If the pad is in one piece you could dig a pit under the lower corners and jack it up by breaking "patio blocks" in half to get 4x4 squares to put under the jack. The squares will sink down as you jack up the slab, but I jacked up 40 foot steel shipping container this way and only had to push about two feet of blocks down before it lifted the 11,000 pounds up. Your condenser is a lot smaller and would be easier to lift, but this shows that it can be done.

I'd suggest just shimming it on the existing pad rather than going to a lot of trouble trying to re-level the ground. The concept is that the existing pad has settled all it's going to so shimming to level will fix things up. If you level the ground underneath then it'll just settle again.

As for extra wear from not setting level, I suspect that's a fairly minor issue.

(I am not a licensed HVAC tech)

Bill Arden said:

I've tunneled under a lot bigger things and jacked them up using a small 20ton bottle jack ...

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Same here, and this job should not be very difficult. Keep the jack at least a foot away from any corner of the pad -- I would not mess with a pad less than 3" thick -- and use something like a foot-long piece of 4x4 between the jack and the bottom edge of the pad to help avoid breaking it. Have some sand and small gravel handy, and use something like a 2-foot piece of 1x2 to push and wedge-pack the sand or gravel in under the pad after you have raised it slightly. If necessary, you can drive the stick with a hammer ... and be sure to keep all body parts out from under the pad at all times. Several small moves will be better than one big one, and carefully loosening the dirt above any buried line or cable will help allow it to move a little, if necessary.