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AC Valves and Coils and Why They Matter

AC-Repair

When upgrading your AC, you must understand the key components of your system. The AC valves and coils are arguably the heart of your unit and they matter a lot. It helps to carefully inspect the parts that make up your AC unit because each one plays a unique role to achieve overall efficiency of your system. Discussed below is a summary of these key components and how they operate.

The AC Condenser

When the AC cycles on to cool your home, the condenser unit that is located outdoors changes the Freon gas into liquid through a compressor. The liquid which is cold then goes back through the AC coils to the evaporator located inside your home. The blower alternatively called the air handler pushes the cool air into your home. The cycle is then repeated and the AC draws warm air into it and passes it on to the refrigerant that takes it outdoors for evaporation.

The Role of AC Coils

Your air conditioning unit has two coils: the evaporator and condenser. The evaporator coil absorbs heat from inside your home while the condensing coil releases the heat to the outside. There are lots of innovation that have been developed by manufacturers to encourage high efficiency operations for the coils.

  • Grooves – These allow more refrigerant to flow through the AC coils.
  • Larger Coil Surface Area – The size of the coil is limited by the size of the unit. However, manufacturers have come up with ingenious ways to enhance the overall surface area of the AC coil.

The coils now have different passageways and shapes which allow for a higher volume of the refrigerant to pass through the coil at any one given time.  N-shaped coils have a greater surface compared to V-shaped coils.

The AC Valve

Every AC unit comes with a valve located on the frontside of the coils. The valve works as a metering device which monitors the access of the refrigerant to the coils. Standard AC systems use a valve which opens and closes. On the other hand, high efficiency cooling systems use a thermal expansion valve which operates like a smart meter. It opens and closes, but in varying degrees to give measured access to the refrigerant in line with the cooling load of your home.

When efficient AC coils join with smart valves, the AC unit adjusts its cooling output which means more energy savings for homeowners. When buying an AC system in 2018, lookout for these components.