How does an air conditioner work and what types of air conditioners are there?

Ever since its invention over a hundred years ago, the air conditioner has helped make homes all over the world more comfortable during the hot sunny days.

Nearly every modern household has an air conditioner, and for many homeowners, it’s an appliance they simply can’t live without. It’s estimated that about 80% of homes in Australia have air conditioning.

Air conditioners can do more than just keep your home cool; they can also improve your indoor air quality by filtering out contaminants, like spores, dust mites and pollen.

Now, even though you may use an air conditioner every day, you might be curious as to how these devices work. Today’s air conditioners work using the same principles as those from yesteryear, but with a few small operational differences.

Let’s explore how air conditioners function and take a look at the different kinds of air conditioners out there.

How they work

Basically, the air conditioner cools down the interior of your home by removing heat from the air and transferring the heat outside—the cooled air is then pumped back into the house.

Here’s a more detailed explanation:

The fan inside the air conditioner pulls in the air inside your home, and as this air passes through the filters, dust and other contaminants are removed. The air then flows over the evaporator coils.

The cold evaporator coils have liquid refrigerant gas inside them and as this liquid converts to gas, heat from the air is absorbed by the refrigerant, cooling the air as it passes over the evaporator coils.

The air conditioner’s blower fan then pushes the now-cool air back into your home.

Meanwhile, the refrigerant gas from earlier is syphoned into the air conditioner’s compressor through copper tubes. The refrigerant gas is pressurised in the compressor and then sent into the condenser coil.

A fan then pulls air from the outside and through the condenser coil, and the air absorbs the heat from the refrigerant gas in the coil, causing the gas to cool down and turn back into liquid. The air is then blown outside, taking the heat with it.

After this, the refrigerant liquid is pumped back into the evaporator coil.

The types of air conditioners

There are four types of air conditioners available in Australia. They work roughly the same way, but they’re designed to meet different requirements and the architectural styles of homes.

Here’s a look at these air conditioners:

Portable air conditioners

These are compact air conditioners that can be moved from room to room. These air conditioners don’t need any installation and they’re a good choice if you want a temporary cooling solution.

Split-system air conditioners

A very popular type of air conditioner. It consists of two units; an outdoor and an indoor unit.

The indoor unit includes the evaporator coil and the blower fan, while the outdoor unit houses the compressor and the condenser coil. These air conditioners are effective for cooling large rooms.

They can only be installed with the help of a professional.

Window air conditioners

As their name suggests, these air conditioners are designed to be installed in windows, but they can be installed on walls as well if required.

They aren’t suitable for cooling large rooms but are perfect for small bedrooms and living rooms. They’re also a good choice for small apartment buildings where there might not be enough room to install a split-system air conditioner.

Ducted air conditioners

These air conditioners use ducts to carry cool air from the compressor to multiple rooms in your home. This type of air conditioner allows you to cool every room in your home at the same time.

Compared to other air conditioning systems, ducted air conditioners require homes to have extensive modifications to accommodate them, and they can only be installed by a professional.

Always keep your air conditioning system well maintained

Regardless of what type of air conditioner you choose for your home, you need to make sure that it’s well maintained. Seeing the way they function, you can tell that they are very complex machines that should only be serviced by a professional.

Alliance Climate Control can help you not only pick the right air conditioner for your home, but we can also help you maintain your system through our first-class maintenance services.

If you’re looking for cooling solutions for your home, call us today at 02 8061 5023.