Air Conditioning and heating blog

We add new articles and updates every few weeks. Learn about how HVAC heating and cooling systems work!

Air conditioners work by removing heat and humidity from the indoor air and transferring it outside. They use a special chemical called refrigerant that changes from liquid to gas and back to liquid in a closed system of coils. The refrigerant absorbs heat as it evaporates and releases heat as it condenses. Air conditioners also have fans that blow the cooled air back into the room. They need a filter to stop dirt and dust from getting into the machine. Some air conditioners have ducts that distribute the air throughout the house.

A central air conditioner is like a giant refrigerator for your house or building. In fact, it employs the same types of components, materials, and systems as a refrigerator, including a refrigerant that changes from liquid to gas and back to liquid as it travels through a system of tubes and coils or fins that collect and give off heat.

The specifics -

In central air conditioning, air gets blown over evaporator coils that are filled with liquid refrigerant. Heat from the air will be absorbed into the refrigerant and turn the liquid refrigerant into a gas.

The air that passed over the evaporator coils is now cool and blown back into the house or building.

The refrigerant, now a gas, will pass through a copper tube to the compressor located outside the house or building. The compressor will compress the gaseous refrigerant, then send it to the condenser coil where the heat will be released. At this point the refrigerant becomes a liquid again and the whole cycle starts again.