How Air Conditioners Work

Published by: Elizabeth Gormley
Published on: 2010-01-10 15:26:13

We're thankful for air conditioners on those sweltering Connecticut summer days, but how exactly do they work? The answer is: not unlike the refrigerator in your kitchen. Air conditioners are a part of HVAC systems, an acronym that stands for heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems. The air conditioning process is based not on cooling the room but drawing heat out of it by using chemicals that change easily from liquid to gas and back again.

Refrigerant is a chemical that can change from a liquid to a gas in a short amount of time. Freon is a commonly used refrigerant. The refrigerant is pumped into the air conditioner at the factory where it is made. Also installed at the factory is lubricating oil for the compressor, an integral part of the cooling process, along with a condenser, an expansion valve and a thermostat.

After the air conditioner is turned on, the refrigerant begins filtering to the compressor, usually located on the outside air portion of the system at the bottom. The compressor is most likely the heaviest part of the machine. It squeezes the refrigerant, creating pressure and closing the liquid molecules together, heating them. The heat creates energy, and makes the liquid into a gas that flows into the condenser, which is a series of coils or fins. As the refrigerant gas reaches the end of the coils, it has cooled significantly. The gas cools so much, in fact, that it changes into a high-pressure liquid.

Next, the liquid is forced into a tiny opening called the expansion valve. What happens at this valve is something like a trickle into another set of coils, and then evaporation. Again, the liquid refrigerant becomes gas. It is at this point that the room cools. The evaporation extracts heat from the inside because heat is needed to separate the molecules to complete the chemical process of fluid to gas. The metal fins inside the air conditioner assist in the exchange of the energy with the environment.

There is a fan connected to the evaporator that circulates the cool air around the home. Heat rises naturally, so the forced circulation of air is important. Also, air conditioners have a vent that sucks air into ducts, cooling it, and blasting it back into the home.

The air conditioner's internal thermostat monitors the temperature. If the heat level rises, the thermostat triggers the compressor to being another cooling cycle. When the temperature of the room reaches the set cooling power, the compressor will shut off.

There are ways to get the most energy efficiency from your air conditioner, such as shutting the shades against sunlight, which naturally heats a room. Keep doors closed to reduce unwanted hot air flow. This can save you money on energy bills, as your air conditioning system won't be kicking off and on all day and night. Of course, when running an air conditioner or any other HVAC, keep the windows tightly shut.

For an Connecticut air conditioning specialist near you, contact us or browse our directory.

View all Air Conditioning Cooling Articles