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.