What is a Central Air Conditioner?
A central air conditioner is a machine that distributes cool air throughout the entire house through the ducts.
An air conditioner can be stand-alone or connected to your furnace. It consists of three main parts: an evaporator, compressor and condenser heat exchanger. Air circulates this looped copper tube until it's cooled down enough to go into the following component called a condenser coil. The evaporation coil is responsible for absorbing heat from the air in your home.
This specially designed tubing has fins allowing hot air to pass through while cooling it simultaneously. After the return circuit passes through this coil, it's ready to go back into your home almost 80 degrees cooler than when it entered. The compressor in your air conditioner helps move the cold air through the evaporation coil. It compresses cold refrigerant with a warm gas, consistently producing cold temperatures.
Does It Include Heating?
As mentioned above, if your furnace also includes a heat pump, this is achieved by reversing the action of the pumps. When hot air enters into one end of it, it becomes cool before returning to your home again. A central air conditioner can be utilized for heating purposes when needed!
The last part is called an expansion valve installed on the unit itself. This component allows expandable gasses to escape back into the outdoors while keeping coolness inside during any time of year. This way, you don't have to worry about dealing with any unwanted cold air in the summer or feeling like you're heating the outdoors when it's hard.
The central air conditioner is attached to a thermostat that controls your home's temperature. The cooling mechanism can be installed on an outside wall, inside a window or through a ceiling. This makes it great for outdoor spaces since they don't require extra room in your living areas.