What’s a condenser? | HVAC Options

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A condenser is the large field a part of your central air-con system that sits outdoors your house.

Central air-con techniques have primarily two elements:

• An evaporator that removes undesirable warmth from the air and transfers it to a refrigerant
• A condenser that removes undesirable warmth from the refrigerant and transfers that warmth open air

Condensers are warmth exchangers that induce condensation on the pressurized refrigerant to vary the section from a gasoline to a liquid. The first part of a condenser is the condenser coil, by which the refrigerant flows.

Sorts of condensers

There are three kinds of condensers. These sorts differ in how they take away extra warmth:

• Air-cooled condensers take away warmth by blowing air over the condenser coil. That is the most typical sort of condenser in residential techniques.
• Water-cooled condensers take away warmth by pouring water over the condenser coil.
• Evaporative condensers don’t sometimes use refrigerant. They take away warmth by permitting water to evaporate immediately into the air.

Condenser elements

Each break up air conditioner and warmth pump condensers have the identical fundamental elements. The condenser cupboard comprises the condenser coil, a compressor, a fan, and varied controls.

Condenser coils will be fabricated from copper tubing with aluminum fins or all-aluminum tubing so warmth can quickly switch. You must maintain it as clear as attainable to take care of its heat-transferring effectivity.

The condenser fan is an important half that circulates air throughout the coil to facilitate warmth switch. The effectivity might be impacted or the compressor may fail if the airflow is blocked. The realm across the compressor’s coil and fan have to be freed from filth in order that most airflow can happen.

The compressor is the guts of the system because it compresses the refrigerant and pumps it to a coil within the type of a sizzling gasoline. In air conditioners, that is cooled on the condenser right into a heat liquid and passes by a pipe into the evaporator coil, the place it expands and cools. In warmth pumps, the new gasoline is pumped on to the evaporator coil to offer warmth.

Air conditioner condensers

Condensers used solely in air-con shouldn’t have many controls. A contactor switches the ability on and off. Capacitors begin and run the motors.

Some optionally available controls like brownout time delay, laborious begin package, crankcase heater, and low ambiance management can be found. Brownout time delay protects the compressor, shutting the contactor off when voltage drops and an excessive amount of present is pulled in by the motors.

Warmth pump condensers

These have controls which are extra complicated than these of an air conditioner. Along with the contactor, capacitor, and different optionally available controls, there may be additionally a reversing valve, defrost timer, and adjustable temperature sensor.

The reversing valve directs the movement of compressed gasoline to the condenser coil for air-con or to the evaporator coil for heating.

The condenser coil extracts warmth from the air outdoors the house. When it does this, it turns into very chilly and frost collects on it. An extra of frost restricts airflow, lowering the coil’s effectiveness.

The defrost management mechanically switches to the air-con mode even with out the condenser fan working. This makes the ice soften when the new gasoline runs by the coil, after which the system switches again to heating mode.