The weather is climbing to record numbers around the U.S. and the majority of homes are using some kind of air conditioner to battle the summer heat. While we are all thankful that your air conditioner works, the professionals at Evenaire Heating & Air Conditioning in Pflugerville would like to teach you how it works.
The Basics
There’s a plethora of science behind keeping your house cooler. Your air conditioner functions in a comparable way to your refrigerator, but your cooling system has a bigger job to tackle. Both your fridge and AC cool with a constant loop of refrigerant, in your air conditioner this refrigerant loops from inside to the outdoors. This refrigerant effortlessly converts 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 absorbs heat from the indoors and reverts back into vapor. This vapor then travels back to the unit located outdoors where the heat is freed and is then condensed back into a sub-cooled liquid.
Four Components
There are 4 core sections to your AC system: a compressor, an evaporator coil, the condensing coil and an expansion valve.
The evaporator coil is the location your refrigerant evaporates from a sub-cooled liquid into a super-heated vapor. This component can be found indoors, in your garage or possibly in your attic. Warm air passes throughout the cold evaporator coil and the heat is separated from the air. This cooled air is then sent throughout your indoor space.
Your compressor sits in your outdoor condensing unit. The super-heated vapor from your evaporator coil flows into the compressor which increases the pressure of the vapor until it is changed into hot, high pressure vapor. The hot vapor then goes back into the condenser coil where less hot outdoor air flows across the coil, heat is pushed outdoors and the refrigerant is converted back into a sub-cooled liquid. The sub-cooled liquid then goes back to the indoor evaporator coil by an expansion valve or metering device. The process is then repeated.
That completes your physics lesson of the day…your air conditioner operates on an never-ending loop of science. We know that it’s not as crucial to you how it works, but just the fact it’s running. If you’d like to talk about staying cool and comfortable in Pflugerville contact us at 512-355-1482. With the help of our team and science we’re going to make it through this sweltering summer.