How an air conditioner works

Central heating and cooling systems work by feeding air via ductwork through your home. Central air conditioners have both an indoor unit and an outdoor unit, and are one of the most common types of air conditioners. These units are great for homes with a basement or crawlspace because the indoor portion can be tucked away in an unused space.

Packaged air conditioners are another type of central air conditioner. Packaged systems are unique because they provide air to the entire home, but don’t feature a 1:1 indoor to outdoor unit split. Instead, packaged systems are two in one and are just located outside the home. These units are great for homeowners who want central air conditioning but have nowhere to store a large indoor unit in their home.

A Ductless Multi-Split or Multi-zone system works the same as a Mini-Split but have multiple indoor units connected to k outdoor unit. These systems will allow each indoor unit be on its own zone meaning you can individualized the temperature of each room or zone. Our current Multi-Split offering can handle up to 8 rooms with a single outdoor unit. Multi-Splits are gaining popularity for whole home solutions both for heating and cooling and they are also a great option for multi-family housing. Like the Mini-Split there are multiple indoor options based on the system needs and they do include ducted indoor units as well. Multi-Splits also use outdoor heat pump’s INVERTER-driven compressor to vary the system’s capacity to precisely match the zone’s comfort requirements and maintain temperature and run more efficiently

Window air conditioners are true to their name — they’re air conditioners installed in the window of your home. These air conditioners work in a similar way to ductless AC units because they cool a single room in your home. They’re installed in a similar way to central AC units (half inside and half outside). Window air conditioners can be noisy and unappealing to look at, but they’re inexpensive to install and maintain.

All air conditioners are controlled by a thermostat that sends signals to the HVAC system when it’s time to start cooling. There are two different types of thermostats: electronic and electromechanical. Electronic thermostats have sensors that read the temperature, while electromechanical thermostats have metal strips and mercury that tip off the air conditioner that it’s time to cool.

Refrigerant is an essential part of an air conditioner — without it the entire system wouldn’t be able to function. This chemical cooling compound flows throughout the air conditioner absorbing and releasing heat at different stages to cool down your home. The cooling process kicks off when a fan blows heated air from inside your home into the air conditioner, and the refrigerant absorbs that heat inside the evaporator coil.

The condenser coil receives that hot, pressurized gaseous refrigerant from the compressor. The condenser coil is designed to release the heat the refrigerant is carrying outside. This cools the refrigerant down and turns it back into a liquid, ready to absorb more heat from your home.

When the refrigerant leaves the condenser coil and releases most of its heat outside, it’s still too hot to re-enter the evaporator coil. The expansion valve works by decreasing the pressure of the refrigerant and cooling it back down even more. The expansion valve sends the cold refrigerant back into the evaporator coil, where it picks up more heat from the air inside your home and the process repeats itself.

A zoned air conditioning system divides your existing central air conditioning system into multiple zones that are each controlled independently by their own thermostat. You set your zones, which can be anything from a single room to an entire floor of your home. Each zone you create is then connected to an individual thermostat (which are all controlled by the same central air conditioner), so that you can set each one to your ideal temperature. Zoning allows you to elevate your home comfort by giving yourself control, plus you can save energy, improve indoor air quality, and more!

AC zoning is great for all homes, but works particularly well in certain circumstances. Homes that are multi-level will benefit greatly from AC zoning, because different levels tend to experience different temperatures. AC zoning can also help regulate comfort in homes with design features that impact temperature, such as high ceilings or large windows. And, if you frequently face temperature fluctuations inside, even if your home has none of these features, AC zoning might be right for you.