On a hot day, you turn on your air conditioner to keep cool. But what do you do on a particularly humid day? Turn on your air conditioner! When you feel affected by humidity, it’s because your body cannot evaporate sweat effectively when there is moisture in the air. Luckily, your air conditioner can remove both heat and moisture from the air in your home on those hot, sticky days in St. Augustine.
To understand how air conditioners control humidity, it helps to know more about the process of heat removal. Air conditioners do not actually create any cool air. Rather, they cool your home via the process of heat exchange. The indoor portion of an AC removes heat from your home, and it is released outside.
At the outdoor condenser unit of your AC, heat is released from the refrigerant as it changes into a high-pressure gas. Inside, at the evaporator coil, refrigerant condenses into a liquid. Here, the refrigerant absorbs heat from the home as an indoor blower fan sucks in warm air and blows it over the cold coil. The coil cools the air, and the blower fan sends it through the ducts.
When you pour a glass of ice water on a warm day, moisture forms outside of the glass as condensation. Similarly, as indoor air blows over the cold evaporator coil, water droplets form along the coil. The water then drips into the condensate pan, a shallow tray underneath the evaporator, and flows outdoors via a condensate drain.
Sometimes, this system can run into problems. If there isn’t enough airflow over the coil, the water outside of the evaporator may freeze. Additionally, water leakage is one of the most common reasons homeowners call for air conditioning repair. A clogged drain may cause water to leak into the home, or the water may back up and flow into the air conditioning system. The best way to prevent such problems is by scheduling maintenance with a technician at least once a year.
Call AC Designs Inc. today for repairs, maintenance, and questions about air conditioning in St. Augustine!