Let’s clear up some terminology before I go into further detail about how an air conditioning system functions. Cooling is only one aspect of air conditioning. It completely regulates air circulation, temperature, humidity, and cleanliness. This implies that in addition to many other crucial tasks that regulate the air around you, air conditioning includes heating, cooling, and dehumidification. Now, you might wonder why most service businesses employ the term Air Conditioning and Heating; even though it is redundant, the aforementioned definition is not well-known to the general public, and they need to promote themselves effectively! However, going forward, I will just refer to air conditioning as cooling (in a moment, we will discover why this might be a worse term to utilize!).
How then, does your home stay cool throughout those scorching long summers? It does not, is the response. It just gets less hot and, assuming your system was appropriately sized when it was installed, dehumidified to a level of comfort. According to the rules of thermodynamics, heat is present in the air at all temperatures. There are just various degrees of heat; there isn’t any “cold” (technically). The objective of a home cooling system is to get rid of enough heat from the interior air of your home or workplace to achieve the temperature where people seem to be more comfortable, which is 70 degrees.
Heat transfers are all that takes place when your cooling system is turned on. Heat typically moves from a hot object to a colder one; therefore, the heated inside air is moved to the cooler surface before using another heat transfer to move to the outside air. The evaporator, which is located inside the air handler, is the cooler surface in this case that takes the heat from your home. The condenser, an outside unit, is where the other heat transfer takes place. Normally, the heat from your home is lost to the atmosphere outside, though occasionally it is transferred via water. As a result, using a desuperheater to create domestic hot water is also an option.
There must be enough air movement in the home for the heat transfers to take place. A sizeable blower located inside the air handler, moves the air. The blower draws air into the air handler from one side, the return side, and then releases it from the supply side. As cold air sinks and hot air rises, a well-constructed system will account for this fact, making optimal grill location crucial.
Each system is made in such a way that it is able to manage a specific quantity of airflow and a specific level of cooling or heat energy absorption. If one of these factors is hindered, the system will not function well or possibly at all. This is the reason why routine maintenance is very important. Filters that are dirty can significantly reduce the amount of air passing over the evaporator and greatly increase the likelihood of a frozen coil and an inefficient level of output from your AC.
Certain cooling units can also function as heaters. These are referred to as heat pumps. In the winter, heat transmission is used exactly the same way. The only distinction is that the entire mechanism operates in reverse (but not the air movement). Just like cooling a home, heating a home depends on heat transfers. In the event that your home has a heat pump, the condensing really takes place in the air handler while the evaporator now serves as the exterior unit during the winter. The outside air is what supplies the heat in the system. Considering how cold it is in the middle of winter when the air temperature is 40 degrees, that may sound contradictory, but keep in mind that heat is present in the air at all temperatures. Even though it may seem cold outside, there is sufficient heat in the outdoor air for your unit to warm you up inside.