As you look around today, you see hybrid cars that get more than fifty miles per gallon of gasoline. There are electric school buses. Light bulbs now use a fraction of the energy of the incandescent bulbs of days gone by. Technology keeps improving, and it is helping us to cut our energy use and thus our bills. This is also true in HVAC technology.
Today, air conditioners are required to be more efficient than ever before. And this is possible because manufacturers can make them more efficient now! What amazing advances in AC efficiency have made it possible for air conditioners to use less energy while working better than ever? Check this out!
AC System Facts
To really comprehend how fantastic these changes are, you should begin with an understanding of some basic AC system facts. The key to the whole process is refrigerant. It’s a substance that changes temperature easily. This is called having a high thermal conductivity. So it can absorb heat from a warm place, like the inside of your home during a heat wave.
But what does it do with that heat? Well, it has to carry it outside and allow it to dissipate, and it can do this thanks to the compressor. This component resides in the outdoor unit and keeps the refrigerant under enough pressure that it continues flowing through the system of coils or tubes which contain it. In and out it flows, absorbing and releasing heat.
So now the air conditioner has made cold air for you. But it’s all in one place! To get it moving through the ducts and out the vents and around your home, the system needs a fan. Critically, it also needs a motor to power that fan. Now you can enjoy that coolness in any part of your house.
AC System Improvements
The parts of the AC system that have undergone the most changes in recent years are the refrigerant coils, the compressors, and the blower fan motors. All three of these components have been modified to be much more efficient than those components were in your ten-year-old air conditioner, even when it was freshly installed!
- Efficient Coils: The best way to decrease the amount of energy needed for the refrigerant to absorb heat was to change the materials that the coils are made of. Increasing the thermal conductivity of the coils by using new materials has made it so much more heat can be absorbed and released for every unit of energy consumed.
- Efficient Motors: The blower fan motor in older AC units either runs or shuts off. If it’s in use, it’s always using the same amount of power. To cut this, manufacturers have introduced variable-speed motors. They automatically adjust, using as little power as possible as often as they can.
- Efficient Compressors: This part of the system will already be using less energy simply because it won’t have to run as much, since the refrigerant coils are doing a better job transferring heat. But just like the motors, compressors have been created which automatically adjust, using full power only when it’s truly needed, and running in a more efficient mode most of the time.
Today’s air conditioners are truly technological marvels, and they are an investment in your future—keeping your utility bills down—as well as the future of the world. If you have any questions about air conditioning in Tucson, AZ, a member of our team would be delighted to chat with you.
Contact Picture Rocks Cooling, Heating & Plumbing today with any questions or to schedule an appointment with our professionals.