How Air Conditioning Works.
An air conditioner is basically a refrigerator without the insulated box. However, instead of cooling just the small, insulated space inside of a refrigerator, an air conditioner cools a room, a whole house, or an entire business.
Air conditioners use chemicals that easily convert from a gas to a liquid and back again. This chemical, called a refrigerant, is used to transfer heat from the air inside of a home to the outside air.
The machine has three main parts: a compressor, a condenser and an evaporator. The compressor and condenser are usually located on the part of the air conditioner that’s outside. The evaporator is located inside the house.
The refrigerant arrives at the compressor as a cool, low-pressure gas. The compressor squeezes the fluid. This packs the molecule of the fluid closer together making them get hot.
The working fluid leaves the compressor as a hot, high-pressure gas and flows into the condenser. If you looked at the air conditioner part outside a house, look for the part that has metal fins all around. The fins act just like a radiator in a car and help the heat go away, or dissipate, more quickly.
When the working fluid leaves the condenser, its temperature is much cooler and it has changed from a gas to a liquid under high pressure. The liquid goes into the evaporator through a very tiny, narrow hole. This is the expansion valve on the diagram. On the other side, the liquid's pressure drops. When it does it begins to evaporate into a gas.
As the liquid changes to gas and evaporates, it extracts heat from the air around it. This takes place inside the room where a fan blows air across metal fins that have been chilled by this process. In doing so the internal air is cooled.
Why Buy Air Conditioning for the Home - Heat Pumps
This is a modification to the simple air conditioning system but it allows the system to work in reverse, so that the air conditioning unit inside the property can warm up the room. This operates by reversing the operation so that the “outside” unit cools the outside air and then releases the heat at the “indoor” unit end.
Heat Pumps create a very efficient means of heating and cooling the indoors and are relatively low cost to install.
Can Air Conditioning Equipment Improve my health?
If you Suffer from Hay fever or Asthma Air Conditioning can help, some Hay fever and Asthma sufferers. With the capability to clean the air and reduce humidity Air Conditioners can play a key role in helping you sleep and breathe. There have been occasions recently where Air Conditioners have been prescribed to people suffering heavily from allergies or Asthma to relieve their symptoms and help them sleep, unfortunately this isn't available for most people.
Some of the Air Conditioning companies have introduced new filter mechanisms that can clean the air of most known but including MRSA, Corona virus (has the similar gene structure as the SARS virus), Influenza virus (has the similar gene structure as the bird-flu virus), MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus), Fungi, Allergen Particles etc.
How to Buy the Correct Air Conditioning Equipment in the South West
Size of System
It is important that the system is the right size for the location it is to heat and/or cool. If you choose the wrong size then either it won’t work at all very well or it could cost too much to operate.
Survey
In working out the “Cooling” and “Heating” load that the system will work under, it is essential that all of the relevant parameters are fed into the equation by the supplier designing your system. This much take into account the construction type of the walls and ceilings, window types and size etc. and other heat producing items like equipment such as computers, televisions, cookers etc. This is after all a calculation of all thing connected with heat.
Compressor Type - Fixed Speed or Inverter?
This is a fairly simple decision but it has cost implications. The Fixed speed system runs at a constant speed regardless of the conditions. (Like the fridge). The Inverter can vary the speed of the compressor to suit the conditions that are applying.
The upside of the Inverter system is that it only uses the power it needs, and the downside is more cost in installation, usually 25% more. Over the life of the product this is dwarfed by the power savings made.
What Make is best?
Apply the criteria you would apply to any domestic purchase. Is it a brand I know? Is there adequate local support? Length of guarantee? Don’t buy anything with a name that is completely unknown to you.
Names that are well known in this area are:
- Hitachi
- Mitsubishi Electric
- Toshiba
- Fujitsu
- Panasonic
- Samsung
- Sanyo
- Daikin
VAT Applicable to Heat Pumps
In line with its commitment to reducing emissions there is a reduction in VAT on the purchase of Heat Pumps from 17.5% to 5% all as explained in this link.
Enhanced Capital Allowances (ECAS)
The ECA scheme provides upfront tax relief for businesses that invest in designated energy efficient equipment. For complete information on this subject please download the ECA Fact Sheet |
