Understanding the Importance of the Condenser and Evaporator Coils

When you turn on your air conditioner in your Surf City, North Carolina, home, you enjoy cold air. However, do you understand how your air conditioner actually works? While many of us believe that air conditioners create cold air, the truth is that they remove hot air from your home. Two key parts of an air conditioner are the condenser and evaporator coils. Here’s how these components work in tandem to keep your home cool all summer long.

Air Conditioner Basics

The air conditioning system uses a chemical coolant, or refrigerant, that converts from gas to liquid and vice versa. During this process, the system expels the heat inside your house outside. The main components of the system are the:

• Inside unit, which houses the evaporator coil and fan.
• Outside unit, which contains the condenser coil, fan and compressor.

The Refrigerant

The refrigerant is the lifeblood of the air conditioning system. Without sufficient levels refrigerant, your AC system won’t cool your home. The evaporator coil, condenser coil, and compressor work together to move the refrigerant from the outside to inside in a continuous loop of heat exchange and transfer. A refrigerant leak will disrupt this process. Therefore, you should have a professional repair it right away.

The Evaporator Coil

The compressor pressurizes the refrigerant. The evaporator coil then allows it to evaporate from a liquid state to a gas, absorbing hot air inside your home. The evaporator coil doesn’t only help absorb heat. It can also pull moisture from incoming air and helps to make the room feel less humid. That’s one of the reasons running your air conditioner can help to lower humidity levels in your home.

Because of so much exposure to moisture, the evaporator coil often has corrosion on it, which can hinder its performance. If you suspect that there’s an issue with the evaporator coil, call us so we can repair it before it fails. As a result, you can avoid a costly replacement.

The Compressor

The compressor draws the refrigerant, which at this state is a low-pressure gas, from the inside of the house. It pressurizes or compresses it to raise the temperature of the coolant to a hot- and high-pressure gas. The refrigerant then flows into the condenser coil. This phase of the heat exchange loop is vitally important. If the compressor doesn’t pressurize the refrigerant properly, it won’t be able to expel hot air outside.

The compressor needs to run well to be efficient. Investing in a maintenance plan with us is a great way to ensure that your compressor, along with all of the other parts of the air conditioning system, operate as they should. As a result, you’ll enjoy a cool and comfortable home.

The Condenser Coil and Fan

The refrigerant is in a hot-gas state when it reaches the outside condenser unit. The condenser coils have many fins attached to them. As the refrigerant passes through the fins of the coils, the condenser fan blows across them, which helps to easily dispel the heat to the outdoors.

Once most of the heat has been expelled, the refrigerant can cool back down into a liquid state. It then passes through an expansion valve that changes the cooled refrigerant into a vapor. This cold vapor then goes back into the evaporator coil where it can absorb more heat. As long as the air conditioner is running, this loop will continue.

As you can see, the process of cooling your home is more about removing hot air than creating cool air. Keeping all of the components in good working order is crucial for having a cool home. To schedule a maintenance visit from us and to learn more about your condenser and evaporator coils, give our experts at Gideon Heating & Air Conditioning a call today at (910) 447-2905.

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