In Depth: Air Conditioning Units

How they work

In essence, your air conditioning unit works in exactly the same way as your fridge at home. If you’ve ever looked at the back of your fridge (dusty, isn’t it?) you might have noticed that the back of your fridge is actually quite warm.

A type of gas known as a freon is compressed by a pump. As it is compressed it gets warmer and warmer. This warm gas is passed through a coiling gystem of pipes. As it goes, the heat radiates out of the gas, and it condenses into a very cold liquid.

This cold liquid is pumped around another series of pipes. When air is passed over these pipes, the liquid absorbs heat from the air, leaving the air cooler and the liquid warmer. The warm liquid is then turned into a gas and the process begins again.

Most air conditioning units therefore come in two parts – you may have heard the term ‘modular’ system. The part where the hot freon gas is exposed to the air to get cooled is placed outside the building, and the part where the liquid freon cools the air is placed inside the building. Our portable units transfer the heat outside by means of a simple hose attached to the unit. By placing this through a window or an open vent, the heat is rapidly extracted from any room.

What are they best for?

Air conditioning units cool air tremendously well. As the cooling system is self contained, they do not need the good ventilation that evaporative heaters do – although they still need to be near a door or window for ducting.

In addition, because they do not rely on adding moisture to the atmosphere, they are ideal for use in rooms where there is sensitive electrical equipment.