Air conditioning is a great invention – it keeps your home nice and cool all summer long, providing an escape from the heat, but how exactly does this system work? How does central air cool your home, especially on the hottest and muggiest of days? Surprisingly, your air conditioner works very similarly to your homes refrigerator. Instead of cooling a small enclosed space, it cools the entire inside of your home.
Your central air conditioning unit is comprised of two separate locations: the indoor unit and the outdoor unit. The indoor unit uses an evaporator to cool your home. The compressor does this by using refrigerant, which is located within the coil piping and absorbs heat and then replaces the heat with cool air.
This is where your outdoor unit comes into place. The heat absorbed has to go somewhere – it is taken to the refrigerant in the coil piping and it is pumped to the outdoor unit. The outdoor unit is comprised of a compressor and condenser.
The compressor then moves the refrigerant throughout the rest of the unit. The refrigerant is then converted into a much higher pressure and moves throughout the condenser where a fan cools the refrigerant. The heat from within your home is then distributed to the air outside. The cycle continues over and over, thus keeping your home nice and cool.
