What are some of the air conditioning basics every homeowner needs to know? It is good to understand how your AC works so that you can keep it operating reliably and efficiently. It will also allow you to know when it’s not working properly and request for help. So, this post will explain how major air-cooled systems and air conditioning work.
Air Conditioning Basics
Know the basics of AC is important in order to properly maintain your unit. Read below for some things to consider when wanting to know more about your air conditioning unit.
What are air-cooled systems?
If you are a beginning to air conditioning terminology, don’t worry. Let us begin our post on how AC works by explaining the term air-cooled. This implies that an AC system employs chemical substances known as a refrigerant to drive heat out of air. (You might have heard about Freon, an old-time refrigerant that is used in older AC systems).Most commercial spaces and homes have these air-cooled AC systems.
Water-cooled air conditioning systems are only found in large buildings. The main difference between air-cooled and water-cooled air conditioning systems is that one uses water to drive out heat from the air while the other uses air.
In this post, we will concentrate more on air-cooled systems and how AC works.
How AC Works: The Role of a Refrigerant
In an air-cooled AC system, the refrigerant is very crucial to the whole process. Refrigerants are chemicals that have useful properties; they can easily be changed from gas to liquid and vice versa. As they change their form, they release and absorb heat. They are added when your AC system is installed and rotates continuously throughout the whole unit in a closed loop.
It is a bit complicated process, but there are some air conditioning basics that you should know:
Your AC system is designed in a way that it can take advantage of refrigerants properties of absorbing excess heat from the atmosphere and release it to the building. That explains why your air conditioner has both outdoor and indoor components. The condenser and compressor are outside, and air handler/evaporator is situated indoors.
How AC works: The Most Crucial Component and Process
The process of cooling air in your home is a continuous process, and therefore, it’s hard to tell where it starts. So for practical uses, let’s first explore how AC works by eliminating heat from the air inside your home. These are the simple air conditioning basics that everyone needs to know.
That occurs at the evaporator coil, which is an indoor unit part. It looks like a coiled, long metal hose or tube covered with small fins. The refrigerant reaches the coil as a high-pressure liquid. As it continues to travel through the coil, it becomes a gas and eliminates heat from the air in the process. The coil offers a large surface area to allow the maximum amount of heat to be absorbed. Fans are also crucial in how AC operates.
When the refrigerant leaves the evaporator coil now as a gas, it goes to the compressor. The compressor is the soul of any air conditioning system. This is because it pumps the refrigerant throughout the whole unit. It also released the excess heat absorbed to your room using fans.
This article has given you the air conditioning basics that will help you troubleshoot problems in your AC system. It is important to take preventative measures to ensure your AC unit will run economically. If unsure, you can always hire a professional AC repair company to fix your unit.