The temperatures are hitting record numbers throughout the U.S. and the majority of homes are running some type of air conditioner to beat the seasonal heat. While we are all thankful that your air conditioner runs, the experts at Faust Air Conditioning and Heating in Wharton wants to give you a glimpse at just how an AC system works.
The Basics
There’s a plethora of science behind keeping your house at a comfortable temperature. Your air conditioner functions in a parallel way to your refrigerator, however your AC has a larger responsibility to tackle. Both your fridge and AC cool with a constant loop of refrigerant, with your AC this refrigerant loops from inside to outside your home. This refrigerant effortlessly converts from a liquid to gas and back to a liquid again. It flows into your home as a sub-cooled liquid and as it evaporates it takes in heat from the indoors and expands back into vapor. This vapor then travels back to your outdoor unit where the heat is let go and is then condensed back into a sub-cooled liquid.
Four Components
There are 4 main 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 established inside your home, in your garage or sometimes in your attic. Warm air transports through the cold evaporator coil and the heat is taken from the air. This cooled air is then transferred throughout your indoor space.
Your compressor resides in your outdoor condensing unit. The super-heated vapor from your evaporator coil enters into the compressor which surges the pressure of the vapor until it is transformed 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 released outdoors and the refrigerant is adapted back into a sub-cooled liquid. The sub-cooled liquid returns to the indoor evaporator coil through an expansion valve or metering device. This continues repeatedly throughout the process.
That completes your physics lesson for now…your air conditioner functions on an never-ending loop of science. We realize 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 Wharton contact us at 979-323-6130. With the help of our team and science we’re going to make it through this sweltering summer.