Have you ever wondered how your air conditioner works? A modern cooling system today is made up of three main components:
- The outdoor unit called the condenser
- The furnace or blower unit
- The indoor cooling coil
All three pieces must be working to get cool air in your home. The main concept is that the air with heat and moisture is drawn into your blower unit or your furnace and that air is then sent through your coil. Freon or refrigerant is running through your coils and as the warm air travels across the cooling coil heat and moisture are removed. The moisture is pumped outside through a drain and the remaining heat is sent through a tube back to the outdoor unit which then goes through another outdoor coil. At that time your outdoor fan is blowing and that fan transfers or dissipates the heat to the outside, so this hot air is not the air in your home, but is the heat being sent to the outside.
It is very important that your outdoor unit not be covered up and not have bushes growing around it. It must be completely clear, and most importantly never build anything around it like a deck or put any kind of enclosure over your air conditioner.
If any one of these three components is not working properly you will not have cooling in your home.
The furnace in the winter heats your home, but in the summer, it is simply a blower unit, so the furnace components are not operating but the fan has to operate. The fan in the outdoor unit is also critical because that is the fan that transfers the heat to the outside. When you turn on your air conditioning in the summer the first thing you'll hear is the indoor fan running. You must also have an outdoor fan running, and then the cooling coil is the unseen hero of the system. The coil is removing the heat and moisture, but you can't see it because it's usually contained in your ductwork. It is very important to keep the coil clean, and you can do that by keeping your filter clean and not letting dust and dirt buildup on the coil.
So, your air conditioning system is made up of three major components and if you are having a problem the first thing you should do is check your filter for cleanliness.
Let Reliable Heating & Air technicians rid your A/C system of problems this summer. From regular maintenance packages to one-time fixes, Reliable's cooling team is the answer to any A/C issue you may have.