How Long Do Air Conditioners Last?
Air conditioners have been around for a very long time. The modern-day air conditioner is based on a design that was invented thousands of years ago without electricity!
They work by evaporating a liquid and extracting heat from the room with the help of a fan. In this article, I will describe how an air conditioner works and provide some advice on how to make your current heating and cooling unit last longer.
Who Invented The Air Conditioner?
As we know it today, the modern air conditioner was invented by Willis Haviland Carrier in Buffalo, New York, back in 1906. He used the following components: a compressor, an expansion valve (or capillary tube), and techniques to cool water and refrigerate it. These components are also standard on most commercial and industrial grade air conditioning units today! Although, some of these designs may use gas pressure or electric power instead of steam heat to run their compressors.
Here is how an air conditioner works:
Air enters the unit and passes over coils that have been coated with a liquid such as freon gas. The freon evaporates, which absorbs large amounts of energy from the air. The cool, moist air is then vented into the room, where it replaces the hot air. In an ordinary thermostatic design, this cycle is repeated until the desired temperature is reached.
So there you have it! This to happen, the coils must be below the liquid freon so that they can evaporate from them and carry heat away from your living space. That's how an air conditioner works in a nutshell…
How Long Do Air Conditioners Last?
Well, if you treat your air conditioning unit right, it will last for a very long time! Here are some tips on how to make your current system as efficient as possible:
Get Rid of as Much Dust as Possible - Make sure filters are cleaned every 1-3 months, depending on your user type. If your filter is removable, be sure to wash it in soapy water and then rinse it. Dry completely before using it again.
If that's not possible, then one of these should do the trick:
How Long Air Conditioners Last - Real World Applications
Now that we have academic knowledge about how air conditioners work let us apply this theory to real-world applications! Here at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), I am working with a group of four other students on a project called The Load Controller. This unit will allow people who live in very hot or cold climates to save money by monitoring their heating and cooling units more efficiently. We are still in the conceptual design phase of this project, so it will be another few months before we have a working prototype ready for beta testing.
How Long Do Air Conditioners Last - Summary
If you want your air conditioner to last as long as possible, here are some tips: replace old filters frequently, keep off of roofs or anything that could damage components, and don't let condensation build upon any part of the unit. Hopefully, your system should last at least ten years, but more information is needed to determine why specific systems stay longer than others.
Hopefully, this article has shed light on how an air conditioning unit works and ways to make it work better! Good luck with your new appliance. It sounds like you need it!
Scogin-Aire Mechanical - Air Conditioning Repair Spring TX
20714 Sleepy Hollow, Spring, TX 77388, United States
+19362834374