The temperatures are reaching record highs across the U.S. and many homes are utilizing some type of air conditioner to beat the seasonal heat. Although we are all thankful that your air conditioner is functioning, the team at B&D Air Conditioning in Safford wants to give you a glimpse at just how an AC system works.
The Basics
There’s a lot of science regarding keeping your home cool. Your air conditioner runs in a similar way to your refrigerator, of course your cooling system has a more difficult job to manage. Both your fridge and AC cool with a constant loop of refrigerant, in your air conditioner this refrigerant loops from inside to to the external part of your home. This refrigerant effortlessly alters from a liquid to gas and back to a liquid again. It goes into your house as a sub-cooled liquid and as it evaporates it takes in heat from the indoors and reverts back into vapor. This vapor then moves back to the unit located outdoors where the heat is released and is then condensed back into a sub-cooled liquid.
Four Components
There are 4 central elements to your
air conditioner unit: a compressor, an evaporator coil, the condensing coil and an expansion valve.
The evaporator coil is the place your refrigerant evaporates from a sub-cooled liquid into a super-heated vapor. This component can be established indoors, in your garage or sometimes in your attic. Warm air moves across the cold evaporator coil and the heat is removed from the air. This cooled air is then released throughout the space inside your home.
Your compressor resides in your outdoor condensing unit. The super-heated vapor from your evaporator coil flows into the compressor which raises the pressure of the vapor until it is changed into hot, high pressure vapor. The hot vapor then moves back into the condenser coil where less hot outdoor air flows across the coil, heat is moved outdoors and the refrigerant is changed back into a sub-cooled liquid. The sub-cooled liquid then goes back to the indoor evaporator coil via an expansion valve or metering device. This continues repeatedly throughout the process.
That completes your physics lesson today…your air conditioner operates on an never-ending loop of science. We know that it’s not as important to you how it works, but just the fact it’s running. If you’d like to discuss staying cool and comfortable in Safford give us a call at 928-432-6018. You’ll be able to get through this hot weather thanks to science and the support from our experts.