How Does AC Work?

Air Conditioning

Heat from inside your home is taken into the AC unit and is then cooled down or warmed up via a  “refrigerant” – which is a completely environmentally friendly technology.

Within the system there is a closed system made up of copper coils, it is within this that the refrigerant is located. The refrigerant travels through the coils from inside your home to outside and back inside again.

Along the route there is an evaporator, a compressor and a condenser – which all manipulate and change the temperature, pressure and state of the refrigerant; thus causing the refrigerant to absorb and reject heat at certain points throughout the circuit.

 

Let us take a closer look at the process:

Step 1: The evaporator coil absorbs the heat

The evaporator coil is the part of the system that is based inside the home and draws in the warm air from inside. The warm air is taken in through a vent, which is then blown over the colder evaporator coil, and this cools the air. The now cool air is blown, by a fan, into the air ducts, which is then dispensed throughout your home.
This process cause the refrigerant to become a gas, changing from its original liquid state, and it then continues to travel throughout the system toward the compressor.

Step 2: Refrigerant temperature is raised

The gas is compressed by squeezing the gas between to solid objects – this decreases the volume of the refrigerant gas, while simultaneously increasing the temperature and pressure of the refrigerant. The refrigerant is now a superheated vapor.

Step 3: The heat travels outside

The next part of the system that the refrigerant reaches is the condenser, which is located outside. The refrigerant temperature is now lowered by the outside air as it absorbs its heat. This changes the refrigerant’s state from a gas back to a liquid.

Step 4: Refrigerant cools and the process is repeated

Now that the heat from the refrigerant has been fully absorbed by the outside air, and the refrigerant is now cold, it begins to travel back indoors and back to the evaporator coil. Once it reaches the evaporator, the process begins again, and will continue to repeat until the desired temperature of your home is reached. Once the temperature is achieved, your thermostat will tell your AC to turn off.