Month: August 2013

Texas is known for its rough humidity, which makes it something of a challenge for Texas homeowners who are looking to replace or supplement their A/C. Of course air conditioning and humidity are big concerns for A/C manufacturers as well. A lot of thought goes into how humidity affects your comfort and into ways that we can use A/C and humidity control together to create better comfort in your home throughout the summer months.

Humidity can make the air seem hotter because one of our primary means of cooling off naturally, sweating, relies on evaporation and when the air is saturated with water, evaporation occurs more slowly, which means we don’t get to cool down as much.

We can alter the levels of saturation, of course, with the use of humidifiers and dehumidifiers. Humidifiers work simply by adding water vapor to the air, but dehumidifiers come in three different varieties:

1. Heat pump: Removes heat from the air that comes into it to encourage condensation, which is collected in a bucket and drained away.
2. Chemical absorbent: Makes use of a desiccant to absorb water from the air. The desiccant is dried automatically later and the resulting hot and wet air is vented outside.
3. Ventilators: As the name implies it makes use of vents and exhaust fans to lower the humidity inside the house. This method is virtually ineffective in hot weather environments, and is meant mostly to lower humidity in cooler environments.

Your air conditioner also dehumidifies the air as it operates, but it probably is no match for the high Texas humidity, so consider adding a dehumidifier to your home to help beat the heat.

Dehumidifiers come in two different packages. Whole-house dehumidifiers are meant to tackle large-scale humidity problems affecting many rooms at a time. While a portable dehumidifier is not unlike a window mounted A/C, it is only meant to modify the humidity of a single room, or perhaps two rooms with adequate circulation.

Talk to our experts at JD’s A/C in Longview about whether your A/C needs to work in tandem with a dehumidifier to make your home more comfortable through the summer heat, or to get an estimate on adding a dehumidifier system for your house.

The air conditioner in your Longview home works hard throughout the long, hot cooling season to keep you comfortable. Knowing a little about how your system works can help you troubleshoot common air conditioning problems as the summer wears on, as well as communicate with your HVAC technician in the event your system needs service and repair.

The refrigerant in your air conditioner is a chemical that converts easily from gas to liquid and back to gas again. It’s the vehicle that travels through your system’s main components to remove the heat from your home.

Evaporator
The evaporator coil is located in your indoor unit. Air from your home is blown over the coil, which contains cold, liquid refrigerant. The refrigerant absorbs the heat from the air and begins to heat up, turning into a cool gas.

Compressor
The cool gas travels to the compressor, located in your outdoor unit. The compressor squeezes the gas to heat it up above the ambient outdoor air temperature.

Condenser
The hot gas moves to the condenser coil, also located in the outdoor unit. Hot outdoor air is blown over the hotter coil, and because warm air moves from warm to cool spaces, the heat energy in the refrigerant dissipates into the cooler outdoor air and the refrigerant turns back into a cool gas, moves back to the evaporator and begins the cycle again.

The efficiency and cooling power of your air conditioner depends on optimum airflow, clean coils and the exact charge of refrigerant as specified by the manufacturer. An annual preventive tune-up is the best way to ensure that your system operates at top performance all summer long, and will provide these key benefits:

• Lower your utility bills.
• Extend the life of your system.
• Help prevent midsummer breakdowns.
• Improve the energy efficiency of your system and lower your carbon footprint.

For more expert advice about how your air conditioner works and how you can keep it operating efficiently all summer long, please feel free to contact us at JD’s A/C, proudly serving the Longview area for over 30 years.