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Air Conditioner
How Air Conditioners Work
When the temperature outside begins to climb, many people seek the cool comfort of indoor air conditioning. Air conditioners are one of those things that we see every day but seldom pay much attention to. Air conditioners come in various sizes, cooling capacities and prices. Most commonly referred to as central air, an air conditioning system which uses ducts to distribute cooled and/or dehumidified air to more than one room, or uses pipes to distribute chilled water to heat exchangers in more than one room, and which is not plugged into a standard electrical outlet.
With a typical split system, the condenser and compressor are located in an outdoor unit; the evaporator is mounted in the air handling unit (which is often a forced air furnace). With a package system, all components are located in a single outdoor unit that may be located on the ground or roof.
Central air conditioning performs like a regular air conditioner but has several added benefits:
- When the air handling unit turns on, room air is drawn in from various parts of the building through return-air ducts. This air is pulled through a filter where airborne particles such as dust and lint are removed. Sophisticated filters may remove microscopic pollutants as well. The filtered air is routed to air supply ductwork that carries it back to rooms. Whenever the air conditioner is running, this cycle repeats continually.
- Because the central air conditioning unit is located outside the home, it offers a lower level of noise indoors than a free-standing air conditioning unit.
