Below are some frequent questions we receive from clients. HVAC FAQs, if you will! Have a question we haven’t answered? Contact us and ask away!

What does HVAC stand for?

Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning

What is the difference between Freon and Puron Refrigerant?

Freon –R22 is still widely used in existing HVAC Systems. Freon is no long manufactured in the United States. New refrigerant charged HVAC systems use Puron – R410A.

What is SEER?

SEER stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER).

The SEER rating of a unit is the cooling output during a typical cooling-season divided by the total electric energy input during the same period. The higher the unit’s SEER rating the more energy efficient the HVAC system is. The most common SEER is 13.

What is an Economizer?

Economizer can save energy in buildings by using cool outside air as a means of cooling the indoor space. Economizers can reduce HVAC energy costs in cold and temperate climates while also potentially improving indoor air quality, but are most often not appropriate in hot and humid climates.

How does Air Conditioning Work?

Air conditioners are machine that takes heat from inside your business and releases it outside by using five interrelated parts:

• Refrigerant
• Compressor
• Condenser
• Expansion Valve
• Evaporator Coil

What is Refrigerant?

The refrigerant (Freon and Puron) is the “blood” pumping through the air conditioner’s system. It changes state from gas vapor to liquid as it collects heat from inside your business and sends that heat to the outside.

What is a Compressor?

The compressor is the “heart” of the system pumping the refrigerant though all the refrigeration components in a big loop. Refrigerant enters the compressor as a low pressure warm vapor and leaves it as a high pressure hot vapor.

How does a Condenser work?

From the compressor, hot refrigerant vapor moves to the condenser. Here the high pressure hot refrigerant vapor is cooled by air blowing over finned condensing coils by the condenser fan as it moves through the finned coils. As the refrigerant “cools” it changes state from a hot vapor to a hot liquid at high pressure and moves onto the expansion valve. The compressor, condenser coil and condenser fan are all located in the condensing unit in a split system.

What is an Expansion Valve?

The expansion valve does the work. As the hot liquid refrigerant passes through a tiny opening at high pressure in the valve on one side, it emerges as a cool low pressure mist on the other side because as a gas expands, it cools. So now a low pressure cold liquid mist that moves onto the evaporator coil.

What is an Evaporator Coil?

The low pressure cold liquid leaving the expansion valve now runs through the evaporator coil located in the plenum of your furnace. Here the hot air of your business blows across the evaporator coil and heats it up while the cold coil cools off the air blowing across it and back into your business. As the refrigerant heats up, it boils and changes from a cold liquid and evaporates into a warm vapor. From there it moves back onto the compressor and exterior condensing unit and the cooling cycles continues.