Category: Air conditioner

Professional AC repairers know a lot about the main parts of an air conditioner. This info is more useful on repairs than ac installations. If your air conditioner is no longer performing well, it could be a fault on one of these ac replacement parts. The basic parts of an ac unit are: –

The refrigerant

Compressor

Condenser Coil

Expansion Valve

Evaporator Coil

In this case, we focus on a split ac unit only. The split aircon unit is the most common type of aircons in South Africa. Additionally, it is easier to understand the link between ac replacements parts on a split system. Other ac unit types will also have these typical ac parts, but will vary in arrangement and other support structures. Ducts for instance, are common components of central air conditioning system.

The components of an ac unit in a split unit are in two main sections. First, the outdoor ac unit parts and then the indoor ac unit parts.

The indoor parts of an air conditioner.

First, the evaporator. This unit enables the liquid refrigerant (coolant) to turn into a gas. As air from the room passes this unit, the refrigerant absorbs the heat very fast. The liquid coolant then turns into gas. The gas coolant is then sent to the compressor. Meanwhile, the room gets cooler as more heat from room temperature air is being used up to heat the coolant and boil it into gas.

Second, the refrigerant (coolant) is a special fluid that moves round the system in a loop. It is responsible for absorbing heat from room air and to release it outside. The coolant has good quality in terms of the ease to convert from liquid to gas and back again. Therefore, it is a chosen medium of heat transfer in air conditioning units. Heat transfer is the main activity in the air conditioning and refrigeration services.

Filters – the indoor unit also contains filters and the display functions of an air conditioner are on the indoor unit. The unit is usually a wall mount or a ceiling mount position. Filters help trap dust and therefore are vital for making sure that the air is fresh. Furthermore, dust hinders the spread of cool air, and end up compromising the cooling ability of the unit. Additionally, filters also aid in keeping the ac drain clean, a blockage in the drain will strain the compressor. Consequently, this will cause the pump to over work and run down.

Let us look at the outdoor parts of an air conditioner.

AC Compressor

The compressor receives the coolant from the evaporator in gas state, and turns it into liquid by pressing it. As the pump presses the gas, its turns to liquid and is sent to the condenser. The liquid coolant is then sent to the condenser coil.

Condenser Coil – By the time the refrigerant gets to the condenser coil, it is already hot and at high pressure. As it passes through the condenser coil, it releases heat and becomes cooler. The cool liquid is then taken back to the evaporator where it absorbs more room temperature air and the cycle continues.

Expansion Valve

This ac unit part used to be in the indoor, but now commonly found outdoor. Although the coolant leaves the condenser in its liquid state and cooler state, it is still too hot to enter the evaporator coils. The expansion valve is a main part of the air conditioner for this work, and it further lowers the heat levels of the refrigerant to levels that the evaporator can accept.

These three parts, together with the electrical components supplying the compressor, are the main parts of an air conditioner on the outside.