How does a central air conditioner work?
A central air conditioner is able to cool a building by removing heat from the indoor air and transferring it outdoors. To accomplish this the system converts refrigerant from a liquid to a vapor and back to a liquid again continuously. This refrigerant, sometimes called Freon, is pumped by the compressor to and from your outdoor condensing unit via two refrigeration lines. The small un-insulated copper line is warm to the touch and the large insulated copper line is cold to the touch. Air conditioning units operate with three major components, a compressor or pump, an outdoor condenser coil and indoor evaporator coil. The indoor evaporator coil is the “Cold” side and it is usually connected to your furnace or some type of air handler. The furnace blower moves warm building air through the evaporator coil, removing heat in the process, which results in cool air. This process converts the liquid refrigerant to vapor and returns it to the outdoor condenser coil know as the “Hot” side loc
