Air Conditioners

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT AIR CONDITIONERS PLEASE CALL 
MOUNTAINWEST HVAC, INC. 801-936-2020

AIR CONDITIONERS

Your air conditioner is the main factor in keeping your home comfortable during the summer.  Air conditioners use the furnace and duct system to blow cool air throughout your home during the summer.  An air conditioner is probably the least understood of all items found in the home.  Many people do not understand that no air flows from outside the house to the inside.  Only refrigerant flows in and out of the house. 

HOW AIR CONDITIONERS WORK
     Air conditioners work on the principle that when liquids evaporate they absorb energy and get cold.  An example of this is when you get wet, the water evaporates and you get very cold.  Imagine that you have a tank of liquid refrigerant. It is sitting on the kitchen table in front of you at room temperature.  Refrigerants have a very low boiling temperature and pressure so we have to have the can sealed with a valve on top. Now if we open the valve on the can, the liquid refrigerant will start to boil (evaporate) as the pressure inside the can drops and reaches atmospheric. The refrigerant evaporates (boils) and it begins to get cool.  As the refrigerant boils rapidly (evaporates) at atmospheric pressure it gets VERY cold. If you were to take a fan and blow it across the outside of the can it would cool the air in the kitchen.  Let's put a funnel on top of the can and capture the refrigerant. We will put a hose on the small end of the funnel and run it to a pump and pump the gaseous refrigerant into anther can so we can save it.  As we capture the refrigerant gas and compress it, putting it back into the empty can, we find that it is getting hot.  This is all according to the laws of physics.  If we let the refrigerant expand and evaporate it gets cold. -When we compress it, it gets hot.  Another fan is required to blow across the hot can, in order to get rid of the heat so we can compress more gas into the can.
      This describes a typical air conditioning system, only we used some different terminology to describe the components. The can we had on the table where the refrigerant is evaporating is called the evaporator.  In your central air conditioner, the evaporator sits on top of the furnace.  The furnace blows air through the evaporator and this is how you get the cold air that is coming out of your vents. The gaseous refrigerant coming out of the evaporator, travels through a large copper tube out to the pump.  The pump is called a compressor and sits outside the house inside that box called the condenser, because there, the refrigerant is condensed back into a liquid.  The heat that used to be inside house can now be felt, blowing out of the top of the condenser.  The liquid refrigerant now flows back inside the house through a small copper tube to start the process all over again.
     Now that you understand the operating principles of an air conditioning system, you also know the operating system of your refrigerator and your freezer. They all work on the same principle.  This is the same operating principle that is used in a heat pump.  All you have to do is put the condenser coil INSIDE the house and the evaporator coil OUTSIDE the house and you can heat the house instead of cooling it. This is done with a series of valves that reverse the flow of refrigerant.

HOW EFFICIENT IS MY CURRENT AIR CONDITIONER?

SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) is the measure of efficiency by which air conditioners and heat pumps are rated. The higher the SEER number, the greater the efficiency, and therefore, the greater the energy savings. Today, U.S. regulatory agencies require all new products to have a 13.0 SEER rating or higher.  Air conditioner rating/data plates usually do not indicate a SEER rating.  If you would like to know the SEER rating of your current air conditioner, call Mountainwest and give us the make and model number of your air conditioner.  We can usually find out the SEER rating.

MOUNTAINWEST WILL KEEP YOU COMFORTABLE BY:

Installing a new efficient Bryant, Lennox or Payne air conditioner
Repairing your existing air conditioner
Installing a complete system for your home remodeling needs
Designing a system based on your individual needs
Building custom ductwork

Call today for more information about your existing air conditioner or a new one. We will answer your questions to help determine your system's needs.

Please call Mountainwest now at (801) 936-2020 and we will be more than glad to assist you.

 
WHY CHOOSE MOUNTAINWEST?
We are insured
We are certified
We have been in business since 1986
We are members of the Better Busniess Bureau
We are licensed
We guarantee all our work for one year
Our installers are well-trained professionals
We are environmentally conscious
We provide free estimates on new equipment

WE ACCEPT THE FOLLOWING PAYMENTS
Cash
Personal Check
Visa
MasterCard
Discover
American Express
Financing

Call Mountainwest HVAC, Inc. now at 801-936-2020 for our professional air conditioning services.