The weather is climbing to record highs around the country and many homes are utilizing some variety of air conditioner to combat the smoldering heat. Though we are all thankful that your air conditioner works, the experts at Miller Climate Control LLC in Georgetown thought they would give you a sneak peek at how an air conditioner operates.
The Basics
There’s plenty of science involved in keeping your house at a comfortable temperature. Your air conditioner functions in a similar way to your refrigerator, of course your AC has a more difficult task to tackle. Both your fridge and AC cool with a consistent loop of refrigerant, however with the air conditioner this refrigerant loops from inside to outside your home. This refrigerant quickly changes from a liquid to gas and back to a liquid again. It enters your house as a sub-cooled liquid and as it evaporates it soaks in heat from inside the home and expands back into vapor. This vapor then moves back to your outdoor unit where the heat is released and is then condensed back into a sub-cooled liquid.
Four Components
There are 4 core sections 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 located inside your home, in your garage or even in your attic. Warm air moves through the cold evaporator coil and the heat is separated from the air. This cooled air is then transferred throughout the space inside your home.
Your compressor is located in your outdoor condensing unit. The super-heated vapor from your evaporator coil goes into the compressor which increases the pressure of the vapor until it is converted into hot, high pressure vapor. The hot vapor then enters back into the condenser coil where less hot outdoor air runs 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. This process is continually repeated.
That completes your physics lesson for now…your air conditioner runs on an relentless loop of science. We know that it’s not as crucial to you how it works, but that it’s working. If you’d like to discuss staying cool and comfortable in Georgetown contact us at 512-937-2001. Thanks to science and our pros, you’ll get through this hot summer.