What Consumers Should Know About Air Conditioning Units

How an air conditioner works

An air conditioning unit is used to move the heat inside your home outside. By moving the heat outside, it helps to cool the temperature of your home to make it more comfortable. The air conditioning unit blows cool air into your home after the heat is removed. The air is cooled by the evaporator coil where it exchanges the heat into cool air.  The outside coil is the condenser which works with the refrigerant. There is a pump (compressor) which moves the refrigerant between the two coils. The system will normally give about 3 times the cooling energy that the compressor uses .

What a ton of cooling is

Cooling is measured by BTU’s.  BTU is short for British Thermal Unit.  A ton of cooling  is 12,000 BTU/ hour of cooling.

What can go wrong

There are many things that can go wrong within a unit which is why it is recommended having it serviced every year. Such as:

• Changes with in the household such as the number of people, appliances and the house structure.
• Refrigerant may be leaking.
• Condenser coil could have stopped working.
  

What the filters do 

Almost every air conditioning unit has a filter. The filter helps remove particles from the air stream to keep both the system clean and remove particles from the air. As the filter completes its job it will get dirty from the particles in the air. It is great to check on those filters every couple months. As the filters get dirtier, it makes your air conditioning unit work harder causing the air flow to go down. Replacing the air filter every other month keeps the air cleaner.

Maintain the system

Keeping the unit outside and free of debris and obstruction helps with the performance as well as changing the filters.  It is great to have the air conditioning unit serviced every year.

Ducts 

Duct work should be inspected as well. if there is a leak in the duct, then the unit does not perform as well as it should.  Ducts should be well insulated. When your ducts are sealed properly, the unit works effectively and cuts down energy cost.