Air Conditioners Are No Luxury In Philadelphia
Every summer you can rely on one thing: hot and humid air. This excess humidity in the air makes it harder for our bodies to cool themselves through perspiration. As the summer days get hotter and the nights become uncomfortably warm, many Philadelphia residents and business owners rely on air conditioning units to provide indoor comfort, but few people know how these metal boxes and spinning fans actually change the air temperature and quality.
How Do Air Conditioners Cool?
When you feel cold air coming out of your wall, ceiling or floor vent you are actually feeling air that has lost some of its heat. Your home air conditioner transfers hot air from inside to outside through a mechanical process that starts at the thermostat on your wall. Air conditioners also dehumidify air while removing or transferring heat by picking up excess humidity at the evaporator coil.
When the thermostat is set to a temperature lower than current room temperature, the circuit board at the indoor heater or air-handler sends a signal to the outside condenser asking it to turn on. The condenser then starts pumping liquid refrigerant through a thin copper line to the evaporator coil, which is attached to the indoor unit. The refrigerant passes through a metering device, which lowers the pressure and turns it into vapor. Now, as the evaporator coil tubes are cold, the blower motor turns on and pushes returned air through the cold coil and finally, your vents. At this point, you start to enjoy cooler and less humid air as the cold coil tubes condense air humidity into water, which leaves the coil through a PVC drain line.
Air Conditioning System Maintenance Tips
If you decide to handle your own AC maintenance, you should start by replacing your air filter. This simple task is easy to perform and essential to your AC system’s performance. You can also clean out your indoor and outdoor coils. Other, more complicated maintenance requires an experienced, certified technician since refrigerant handling and electrical knowledge are involved.
Did you know?
– Air conditioners use about 5 percent of all electricity produced in the U.S., costing homeowners more than $11 billion a year in energy costs.
– Replacing a clogged air filter with a clean one can lower your air conditioner’s energy
consumption by 5-15 percent.
– AC condensers are designed to handle outside heat, the cold, rain, and snow, but in the last ten years, Americans spent 8 billion dollars covering their condensers during the winter.
Purchasing an over sized air conditioner reduces compressor’s life by up to 25 percent.
Whether you’re looking to save on cooling costs with your existing air conditioner or want to upgrade to a more energy-efficient model in Philadelphia, PA visit our website or contact us at 215-725-6111.