When an air conditioning repair technician comes out to your home or office, are you confused by the terms that are being thrown around? AC systems can be technically complex and have their own lingo, but here’s a quick exploration of your system to help you know what your tech is talking about:
Central AC System Parts
- Air Handler. This part of your system is what conditions your air and moves it through your home or office. It typically includes the filter housing, a blower that moves air and cooling elements that change the air’s temperature. The air handler is attached to the condenser coil and passes the cool air into the ductwork for distribution through your structure.
- Compressor. With most refrigerant-driven cooling systems, whether it’s in your refrigerator, your home or your car, the compressor is the heart of the system that keeps the refrigerant going between the high-pressure liquid state and the low-pressure gas state. After the compressed gas goes through your air handler and picks up heat from your home, it returns to the outdoor unit where the compressor pushes it together back into a liquid state and it’s passed through a compressor coil, which is cooled by a fan. Then it’s passed back to the evaporator coil.
- Evaporator Coil. In the evaporator coil, the opposite process happens from what happens in the compressor. The cool liquid is allowed to evaporate, passing through a radiator-like piece that exchanges the heat from inside your structure for the cool of the gas. The blower moves the air through the coil to cool it, then the low-pressure warm gas goes back to the compressor to start the process over again.
- Thermostat. If the compressor is the heart of the system, the thermostat is the brains that turns your system off and on as needed. It can be operated using a mechanical switch that is controlled by the temperature inside your structure or a digital switch that uses a thermometer to determine the exact temperature.
- Ductwork. Your ductwork distributes your conditioned air to your vents and registers, forcing cool air throughout your structure and returning the warm air back to be cooled again.
At Cox Air Conditioning & Heating, we’ve been serving the greater Clearwater area since 1958 with courteous service and unsurpassed technical expertise. We’re always happy to help make your home or business as comfortable as possible, so please feel free to contact us for air conditioning service.
