re: #1 Ascher

Well, at least this explains how air-conditioning works. MAGYCK!

The operation of a modern air conditioner is actually fairly simple, all you need is a substance that is a liquid under high pressure and a vapor at low pressure and that does not break down into other chemical compounds from repeated heating/cooling and pressure changes. Freon, ammonia, and a host of other newly formulated man made substances work extremely well for this.

*(almost)* Any liquid substance kept under pressure and then allowed to expand into a gas cools dramatically, you can verify this for yourself with any product sold in a spray can. If you want to know the actual physics behind this “state change” then look it up yourself, GIYF. :p

Basically the way an air conditioner works is as follows:

A closed loop of copper tubing connects a Compressor, a condenser coil, an expansion valve, and an evaporator coil. This loop is evacuated with a vacuum pump to eliminate the atmospheric pressure within (this greatly increases the cooling possible by the refrigerants expansion into a gas) and then partially filled with liquid refrigerant. The system also has two fans/blowers, one to blow air thru the evaporator coil (interior) to your vents, and one to either blow or suck air thru the condenser coil (exterior) to exhaust the heat outside.

The Refrigerant is pressurized by the compressor (either piston, rotary, or centrifugal type) and because of being placed under high pressure becomes a hot (high energy) gas. As this gas then passes thru the condenser coil and is cooled by the air either being blown or sucked across the coil (and loses energy) it then condenses into liquid again. This is the exterior part of your air conditioner.

After leaving the condenser coil the now liquid refrigerant which is still under high pressure reaches the expansion valve. The liquid refrigerant reaches the expansion valve thru a very small tube, and is then allowed to spray thru a tiny orifice into a much larger diameter tube that is also under very low atmospheric pressure due to the compressor sucking away at it from the other end. The liquid expands into a gas again almost instantaneously under these conditions and also becomes ice cold from the sudden expansion. As the cold gas goes thru the evaporator coil air is blown across it and into your interior ducts to cool your home. This is the interior part of your air conditioner.

When the still slightly cool gas arrives back at your compressor the whole cycle starts again, and again, and again and again and again and again…

See? No MAGYCK! here at all…

/huh? what joke?