Understanding The Cooling Effect Of An Air Conditioner
Your air conditioner provides a welcome relief from the heat of the summer season. But do you understand how the cooling effect happens? How can your HVAC system make your home cooler?
Knowing how your air conditioning unit works will help you appreciate it better. Not only that, your knowledge of how this unit works will help you maintain it better. If you observe it enough, you can probably identify if something is wrong with the unit. Hopefully, this will help you lengthen the lifespan of your HVAC system.
So what can you know about your unit to help you understand how it cools your home? Let us start by getting to know the two components of an air conditioning unit.
Indoor component
This is what you see on the inside of your home. It is usually located in the basement – or even in a closet. Most units are placed in an area near the furnace filter.
The cooling process begins when the air conditioning unit pulls the hot air from your home to the indoor component. This part of the air conditioner has a coil box where the evaporator is contained. A cooling fluid, called the refrigerant, is able to evaporate and thus absorb the heat because of the evaporator. That means when hot air passes through the evaporator, the heat is sucked out of it, making it cooler. When the air goes into your home, it is now cooler than before.
Outdoor component
The other part of an air conditioner is located outside. It can be at the back or side of the property. This part is responsible for dispersing the heat taken by the evaporator. It drives the hot air back outside. This part houses the compressor, a condenser coil, and also a fan. The heat that is in your home is absorbed by the refrigerant as the air passes through. That heat is now pumped towards the outdoor unit through the refrigerant. When the refrigerant is moved towards the outdoor coil (the condenser), it goes through the compressor of the air conditioning unit.
It is the compressor that is responsible for moving the refrigerant around. It is compressed into a high pressure before it is moved to the condenser. When the refrigerant goes through the condenser, the fan helps provide ambient air so that the condenser coil remains cool. As this happens, the heat is dispersed outside of the house. The refrigerant turns from vapor into liquid form. In its colder liquid form, the refrigerant is pumped back to the indoor component where the process is repeated.
As you can see, the process of cooling the air in your home involves a lot of parts. By understanding the role of each part in your air conditioning unit, you will know how to care for it properly. This will not only help you lengthen the life of your unit, it will also allow you to use it wisely.
Based on the way an air conditioner works, it is all about the heat of the air in your home. If you can effectively reduce the causes of heat at home, you might be able to make your home more energy efficient. That will lessen the load that is placed on your air conditioning unit. It could even save you money on your electrical bill.
