Inside Your Air Conditioner: 5 Parts That Make Your System Run

Millions of people rely on their air conditioners each day, but few understand how they work. The average A/C system is made up of several key components that help deliver cool, conditioned air. These include the air filter, condenser, compressor, evaporator, indoor blower fan, outdoor condenser fan and thermostat.

The following is a brief guide on how these critical components come together to keep your home comfortable on even the hottest of summer days:

• The thermostat regulates home temperature by controlling the amount of cool air distributed through the living spaces. It’s also the one part of your air conditioner you’ll interact with on a regular basis.
• Once the thermostat activates the air conditioner, it’ll draw indoor air through the air filter, which removes airborne particles from the air that passes through.
• The warm indoor air comes into contact with the evaporator, which is a set of cooling coils that extract latent heat and condense humidity from the air using refrigerant. The now-cool air is blown into the ducts via the blower fan.
• Afterward, the refrigerant travels through the compressor, which compresses the gaseous refrigerant into a superheated vapor.
• The vapor travels through the condenser, which is another set of coils that help vent the excess heat built up in the refrigerant. A condenser fan helps draw the air needed to dissipate the heat.

By having an understanding of how these components help your A/C system operate, you’ll be in a better position to troubleshoot any potential problems that turn up throughout the system’s life span.

At Sobieski Services, Inc., our goal is to help our customers in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey learn more about energy and home comfort issues – especially HVAC and plumbing issues – so that they can save money and live in healthier, more comfortable homes.

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