AboutAppliance.com

Many Los Angeles residents don’t give their American Standard air conditioning system a second thought. They turn it on when they need it, it provides cool air, and they turn it off when they don’t need it anymore. The process by which that refreshing cool air is provided, however, is actually a very interesting one. The following is a brief description of what makes your air conditioning system perform its magic.

The basic components of an air conditioning system

The condenser: is a condensing coil which high presser, high temperature refrigerant gas flows through. A fan blows air over the coils to cool the refrigerant and turn it back into a liquid state. The condensing unit, consisting of a coil constructed of fin tubing, is usually located in the portion of the air conditioning unit that sits outside the window.

The metering device: is responsible for dispensing liquid refrigerant into the evaporator coil. It is usually a thin section of tubing or can be a more high-tec thermostatic expansion valve which is designed to open and shut when activated by a temperature sensing component.

The heat pump compressor: compresses low pressure refrigerant gas into high pressure, high temperature gas. It’s basically a high-pressure pump that operates off of an electric motor. It is usually located in the outside portion of the air conditioner.

An evaporator coil: sometimes referred to as a cooling coil is another section of fin-like tubing into which liquid is metered and evaporated into gas. When the refrigerant liquid is changed into gas it absorbs the heat which cools the surface of the evaporator coil which in turn cools the air being blown across it and into the room.

The air handler and blower unit: provides the air which blows across the evaporator coil.

The duct system: is responsible for the distribution of the cooled air from the air handler into the room, and takes the existing air in the room and returns it to the cooling system.

The air conditioner controls: include a thermostat, electrical components, fuses or circuit breakers, filters, and a system that handles any condensation that is created through the cooling process.

These are the basic components that make up your American Standard air conditioning system.  Working in harmony with each other, they are able to cool the air in a room, making it refreshing and bearable when the temperatures outside are not.

It’s important to have your air conditioning system serviced annually, and call a air conditioning repair company if, and when, your system fails to operate the way it was designed to.