Air Condtioning And Refrigeration 
| Very few of you will ever attempt to repair your air conditioner or refrigerator. As a matter of fact new EPA laws require certification for doing repairs that involve the use, transfer or collection of refrigerants,or "Freon", as it is commonly called. There are things you can check and maintenance is something anyone can perform. Air Conditioners use principles of heat transfer, pressure, electricity, air movement and more.Principles that almost require a degree from at least a technical college to understand. To fully understand it all you probably want an engineering diploma on your wall. Simply stated it is this, and I mean simply; A compressor/condensing unit pumps hot gas refrigerant under high pressure and condenses it to a high pressure liquid.. The liquid is sent through copper tubing to the indoor air mover, usually the furnace. A copper coil on top of the furnace receives the liquid "Freon" and transforms it via a metering device or valve to a low pressure vapor, whereby, it absorbs the heat from the air blowing across it. Got it? Good. The cycle is then continuously repeated until enough heat has been removed to maintain a desired indoor temperature. In udder woids, through heat transfer the indoor coil is made cold, around 40 degrees. The air mover (furnace) recirculates the inside air over the coil. Cold air comes out of the vents. Warm air is picked up by the indoor coil and sent outside to the compressor/condensing unit where it is discharged to the outside atmosphere. Feel the heat blowing off of the outdoor A/C unit? That is the heat from your house being transfered outside. This is the most basic and common system used in homes. Some systems use indoor air units that are not furnaces as well, some of these are mounted in the attic. There are ductless, wall mounted units. There are ground source heat pumps that transfer that heat into the ground instead of the air, good for keeping worms warm. Say that 10 times real fast. There are a variety of systems available but they all follow the same principle stated above. Now go study, there will be a test. |
| What would you call a small air conditioner? A refigerator is a small A/C unit. Using the same heat transfer principle they remove heat from inside the box and transfer it into your kitchen, one reason kitchens are hot, besides the ovens I mean. Freezers just really suck out the heat. Refrigerators should maintain about 40-42 degrees. Freezers should be around 0 or below. |
Freon Issues
| No there aren't any Freon Police just yet. There are, however steep fines for anyone purposely discharging refrigerants into the atmosphere, especially contractors. The days of venting R-12, used for refrigeration or R-22, used for air conditioning, before working on a system, are over. Since they found the release of these gases ruins the Ozone layer, the layer which aborbs the suns ultravioet rays, a worldwide push has been on to recover and reuse these gases as well as find safe alternatives to replace them. Contractors working with refrigeration systems must be certified to do so and have the tools and capability to recover Freon. This has been the case for several years now. R-22, used widely for air conditioning systems, is still available and reasonably priced. It will be phased out within the next 20 years or so. It's counterparts R-12, R-502 and others, used mainly in refrigeration, ice makers and car A/C systems are already being phased out. The cost and availabilty of these gases has forced the widespread use of alternative refirgerants. At first, many of these replacement gases were unrelible and hard to work with. They now seem to be more uniform and work just as well as the old Freon. Still there are a variety of manufactures with new stuff coming out all the time. A company used to be able to stock about 3 or 4 kinds of refrigerant and pretty much work on anything. Now you have about 5 times that amount of refrigerant brands out there and it's hard to keep up. It is still a small price to pay as we only have 1 Ozone layer. |
Some A/C Tips
| 1. Maintain your furnace as it is the indoor part of the system, change or wash the filter often. 2. Clean the outdoor unit with a hose. Attach a nozzle to pressure wash the dirt off. 3. Have the system checked every couple years or so, more often if you seem to have lots of problems with it. 4. Keep grass and weeds from growing around the outdoor unit. 5. If a company just recharges the unit tell them to locate the leak if possible. It is not a good idea to keep recharging unit. Yes, units only need recharged if Freon leaks out. If it leaks out then find the and repair the leak. 6. Don't have oversized units installed. It is better to have a smaller unit that runs long enough to remove humidity. Large units shut off and leave the air cold and full of moisture. Undersizing is not good either, unless you like to sweat. 7. If you cover the outdoor unit in the winter, only cover about 1/3 of the way down from the top. It will keep debris and weather out. Covering the entire unit leads to premature rusting. 8. Remember cold air tends to be heavy and warm air rises. 2nd and 3rd story's will always be warmer. Shut basement vents and damper down the 1st floor ones. A new furnace that moves more air, can help solve temperature problems on higher floors. 9. If there is air coming out of the vents but it isn't cold check to see if the outdoor unit is running, not running down the street, just operating. If it is dead in the water then check the indoor breaker or fuse for it. The outside switch box may also have a breaker/fuse in it. This sometimes happens after an electrical storm or power outage. Damage to appliances from storms is usually covered by homeowners insurance policy, check it out. Be pushy. 10. If water starts pouring out around the furnace check to see if the drain line from the indoor coil (sitting on the furnace) is plugged. Often you can just blow in the end of it to open it, if possible, don't swallow any. yechhh 11. It really does help to clean your refrigerator coils every 6 months or so. They may be in the back or underneath. If they are underneath, just open the door, yank off the long grill and use a vacuum cleaner hose attachment to suck off the dirt. Use a flashlight to check it. Snap the grill back in when you are done. Oh yeah, close the door. As if. 12. Don't turn the A/C off and back on quickly. This can short cycle the unit and blow the breaker. Obviously if you do this and it quits working, check the breaker or fuses. 13. Don't install decks or otherwise obstruct outdoor units. they have to dissipate heat and can't do this if blocked. However, installing them in shaded areas will help increase their efficiency somewhat. 14. If your system runs too much and the air temp is warmer than usual, it probably needs service and may need recharged. Be aware when it's unusually hot that systems will run a lot, not down the street. Systems are designed for a geographical areas normal outside temperatures. Extreme hot spells means they will operate more and may not lower indoor temperature adequetly. Most people just suffer through this. It will still be bearable considering how hot is outside, it will still remove the humidity and is far better than installing a monster system that you rarely have need of. 15. Small animals often like to nest in outdoor units, especially in the winter. They often chew through wires and clog up the inside of the unit with leaves and such. You can put up little no trespassing signs, hope they get electrocuted or just deal with them. I like the signs. Check out United Refrigeration Inc. , as well as sidharvey.com |
Window Bangers
| If you have to suffer through the hot weather by relying on window units then here is some good advice. Install them slightly tilting outward so the water drains outside. Make sure you have adaquet power available, if you need an extension cord buy the shortest one you need and make sure it's heavy duty. Window units don't cool around walls very well. Try to install them in central locations. Finally, no company wants to repair these anymore. If they are older than the warranty that came with them, usually 5 years, and start acting up just buy another one. They don't come with valves to recharge them, the price with labor and parts to fix them may exceed what they are worth and quite frankly, no one I know even wants to work on them. Unfortunatly, unless the place you buy your new one at will take the old one, you also need to pay someone to remove the Freon before you toss it out. Same goes for refrigerators. We are becoming a throw away society, good or bad, and the A/C- appliance industry somewhat follows this trend. |
Humidifiers, Air Cleaners And More
| Air cleaners have come a long way. There are basically two kinds: Elctrostatic and media, sometimes called mechanical. Electrostatic have washable cells but cost significantly more. If they break it can be quite costly to repair them. They work well and help remove not only small particles down to microns but also smoke. Media type are much cheaper and also remove particles, even pollen, down to small microns. Media type filters do very little for removing smoke. Media type air cleaners also have a throw away type filter that costs around $30 and needs to replaced at least once a year if not more. This filter, encased in a holder, is folded back and forth increasing the surface area to sometimes as much as 78 square feet. It has no moving parts and almost never breaks. If you don't want either of these at least get a good air filter not the $1 kind. |
| Humidifiers will add humidity to indoor air that is dryed out by heating systems. Since cold air outside holds less moisture than warm air, indoor environments tend to dry out over the colder seasons. The ideal environment is said to be 70 degrees and 40% relativly humidity. Humidifiers are not needed for air conditiong season so leave them off. air condtioners remove humidy and the last thing you want is a humidifier putting it back in. Usually the settings on a humidifier keep it off during A/C season. If you have anyone with Asthma than humidifiers are not recommened. Ask your doctor. Other than that, I highly recommend them. You can maintain a more comfortable environment at a lower temperatue setting if you have a decent level of relative humidity. Side mounted humidifiers with a constant drain are superior to reservoir type that hang under the duct. A reservoir, or tank type, holds a few gallons of water at all times. They tend to build up mold, fungus and who knows what else in there. A constant drain type like April Air, has a small stream of fresh water going over a mesh pad, they do require a drain however. All humidifiers come with a humidistat to control the humidity level, similar to how a thermostat controls the temperature. You don't want your walls and windows sweating do you? If you have hot water or steam heat both of these accessories, humidifiers and air cleaners, must be installed as seperate units. You also must know that though hot water heat is the most even, most economical and most comfortable heat going, you can not add air conditiong to it without spending a small fortune. If you have hot water heat than you may consider ductless A/C systems as an alternative to window units. |
| My ideal design would include gas fired, hot water, baseboard heating and a ducted air conditioning system in the attic with humidification and air cleaning accessories. |
| icpusa.com/heil/--check it out Carrier.com--------and this as well |
