As long as an AC works reliably on a hot summer’s day, most people don’t ask too many questions about how the system functions. The fact is, an AC keeps your home comfortable by doing more than just cooling the air. That’s one reason the man who invented the process in 1902, Willis Carrier, called his invention an air conditioner—not just an air cooler.
At its most basic, an air conditioner moves heat. System components function together to extract heat from indoor air, then transport the heat outside and disperse it into the air. Here’s how an AC works to keep indoor temperatures consistently comfortable:
- Warm air drawn from rooms in the house is conveyed through return ducts to the indoor air handler that incorporates the AC evaporator coil. Refrigerant, a chemical that efficiently absorbs heat, circulates through the coil passages and extracts heat energy from the airflow. The refrigerant is warmed; the cooled airflow, meanwhile, flows back through supply ducts into rooms to keep household temperatures comfortable.
- As the evaporator coil cools the warm airflow, water vapor present in the indoor air naturally condenses, reducing the humidity level in the house. Drier “conditioned” air feels cooler and more comfortable to occupants.
- Refrigerant flows through a conduit to the outdoor half of the central AC and into the powerful compressor, which raises the refrigerant temperature to about 200 degrees. As the refrigerant flows into the outdoor condenser coil, it rapidly depressurizes and releases its content of heat extracted from the house into outdoor air.
- Refrigerant leaving the condenser coil flows back toward the indoor evaporator coil. Along the way, the refrigerant is forced through a tiny orifice in the expansion valve, rapidly depressurizing and causing the refrigerant to revert to a frigid vapor. The chilled vapor flows into the evaporator coil, and the process of extracting indoor heat from the house—and keeping you comfortable—continues.
For more information about how an AC works and for professional service if it doesn’t, contact the air conditioning pros at Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning.
Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning
1 (440) 246-5440
Serving the Lorain, OH Area