Your air conditioning system is made up of various components, including electrical, and mechanical systems. From the compressor, condenser, to the expansion valve and evaporator, each of these components circulates the most integral part of the cooling cycle, the refrigerant. This chemical has been designed especially for radical fluctuations of temperature that vary with differences in pressure. In today’s post, we’d like to review some of the basic components that make up your AC. A little bit of knowledge about your cooling system can help you recognize when things aren’t working as they’re supposed to. Call Boehmer Heating & Air Conditioning today for comprehensive Pittsburgh air conditioning service.
- Compressor: The compressor resides in the weatherized unit outside of your home and it is responsible for pressuring the refrigerant. It works by taking the low-pressure gaseous refrigerant from the evaporator and placing it under a significant amount of compression. When it emerges from the compression stage, the refrigerant is still in gaseous form but it is now highly pressurized and also very hot, much hotter than the outside temperature. This allows the heat in the refrigerant to easily transfer to the outside air.
- Condenser: The condenser coils are responsible for taking this hot gaseous refrigerant and removing much of its heat. As the refrigerant circulates through the condenser coils, an exhaust fan pulls in the outside air, causing the refrigerant to rapidly cool and condense into a liquid, hence its name.
- Expansion valve: Once the refrigerant has entered a liquid state, however, it is still too hot to cool your home. The expansion valve is a relatively compact device that controls the flow of refrigerant as it passes through, thus depressurizing it. The refrigerant is now very cold, and it is ready to cool your indoor air.
- Evaporator: This set of coils resides in the air handler of your indoor unit. As the blower motor extracts warm indoor air from the interior of your home, it moves through the evaporator coils where this thermal energy is absorbed by the refrigerant as the air is cooled. This thermal exchange makes the refrigerant evaporate into a gas. And the cycle continues.
We hope this brief guide to the major components of your AC helps. Call Boehmer Heating & Air Conditioning for comprehensive Pittsburgh air conditioning services.