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This explanation of air conditioning and HVAC basics will Removal AC
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The second topic of discussion about air conditioning and HVAC basics will
be about the types of heat: sensible heat and latent heat.
Sensible heat describes how hot something feels; and you measure it with
a thermometer.
Sensible heat is measured in degrees C, F, or K.
Latent heat measures the quantity of heat energy in a substance.
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When the unit is running, and conditions are normal, refrigerant vapor will
be flowing into this container, cooling and condensing into liquid, and will
fill it to about 1/2 full, so I imagine it as about 1/2 full, with the condensed
liquid flowing out the liquid line at the bottom.
And I imagine that the high side gauge is reading the pressure in the glass
container exactly at the top surface of the condensed refrigerant.
So the temperature that the gauge or a pressure/temperature chart will
indicate is the temperature right there at the top surface of the condensed
refrigerant.
This is the saturated discharge pressure/temperature, and in an R 22 air
conditioning system it should normally be equivalent to ambient outdoor
temperature plus 20 to 30 degrees.
In this section of our discussion of air conditioning and HVAC basics, let's
describe how heat moves in an air conditioning system.
Lets say that the air to be cooled is at 80 degrees when it starts to flow
accross the evaporator.
Since the refrigerant is evaporating at 40 degrees, the heat in the 80
degree air will flow into the 40 degree refrigerant, cool air at about 60 to 65
degrees will flow out of the evaporator, and the refrigerant will totally
evaporate.
Lets also say that the outdoor air flowing accross the condenser is 85
degrees.
The refrigerant vapor will be condensing at about 110 to 120 degrees, so
the heat in the refrigerant will move into the 80 degree air, the air will
leave the condenser at about 105 to 115 degrees, and the refrigerant will
have totally condensed into liquid by the time it leaves the condenser.
The fifth topic of air conditioning and HVAC basics will be compressors.
The compressor is the pump that causes the refrigerant to circulate through
the system.
The compressor is rated to pump a set volume of vapor, so it will have a
set capacity or btu rating, dependng on the refrigerant being used, and the
operating temperature in the evaporator.
The compressor may be a reciprocating type, rotary type, screw type, or
centrifugal type; depending on the capacity of the unit, and whatever
design advantages the engineers might have been trying to optimize for the
unit.
The sixth topic of air conditioning and HVAC basics will be the evaporator.
In the evaporator, the refrigerant is evaporating at a relatively low
pressure, and as it does, it is absorbing latent heat from the air flowing
over the evaporator piping.
The evaporator is the coil that cools the air in an air conditioning system,
and it will have a blower to make the air flow.
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The seventh topic of air conditioning and HVAC basics will be the
condenser.
In the condenser, the refrigerant is condensing at a relatively high
pressure, and as it does, the latent heat absorbed in the evaporator is
released to the relatively cool air or water that is flowing over the
condenser piping.
The condenser is the unit usually placed outside the building, and when
running in the cooling mode, relatively hot air will be blowing out of it.
The eighth topic of air conditioning and HVAC basics will be the thermostat.
The thermostat is the switch that turns the unit on to cool or heat the
space.
If you are a home or business owner, and your air conditioning isn't
running, make sure the thermostat is actually turned on before you call for
service.
I have been on service calls, including expensive 1 am emergency overtime
calls, where the only problem was that the thermostat was not turned on to
"cool".
I have to admit, I have also been on service calls where I opened the unit
and started tracing out wiring only to find out that yes, you guessed it, the
thermostat was "off", and I hadn't checked it before starting work.
I hope this introduction to air conditioning and HVAC basics will help you
understand how the system works.
This is exactly the same information that I discuss in deep detail when
teaching air conditioning and HVAC basics in class and on the job.
These are a few of the topics that any air conditioning service technician
must understand very clearly to be able to trouble shoot a system
efficiently.
You might be interested in our Introduction to Refrigeration and Air
Conditioning e book.
It's 2 chapters reproduced from a U S Military training manual; and
discusses refrigeration, and air conditioning and HVAC basics.
It's about 100 pages, so it might take several minutes to download,
depending on your internet access.
If you're looking for troubleshooting information, you'll find some tips on
troubleshooting air conditioning, refrigeration, and chiller systems in our
System Evaluation Guide.
It's a PDF file, so you'll need Acrobat Reader to open it.
Otherwise, a good hardcopy HVAC Book will go into all the details about
these air conditioning and HVAC basics.
I hope this page has helped, and please, feel free to contact us with any
specific HVAC questions you might have, including questions about air
conditioning on Guam, and refrigeration on Guam.
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Tazzetti: Refrigerants
R134a, R404A, R410A, R407C, R507
Refrigerants & Specialty Gases
www.tazzetti.com
SBI!
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