Two Reasons a Bad Condenser Can Lead to Needing Air Conditioning Repair

The condenser is the component in your AC that offloads heat from your home.

When it works properly, it shuttles pressurized refrigerant through its pipes – like a radiator – and uses the outdoor AC fan to blow away the heat from your home.  

Some Details About Your Condenser

Condensers are large because they have a lot of heat to purge.

The more time the heated refrigerant can spend in the condenser, the more time there is to get rid of its latent and sensible heat.

That’s why your condenser is in the shape of a large box or tube outside your house.

The structure is a series of pipes with fins. It’s designed to lead heated refrigerant on a long meandering route that transfers heat in the vapor through the condenser surface and into the cool air of the fan.

The Natural Life of your Air Conditioner

If you would run your AC for 18 hours each day, 5 days each week and 52 weeks each year, for ten years, you would approach the expected lifespan of a well cared for compressor.

This equals:

• 46,800 running hours
• 23,400 starts.
• And 4,071,600,000 revolutions

It’s the equivalent of your car traveling 1 million miles. (So the most efficient device you own is probably your air conditioner.)

However, if your compressor isn’t going to last that long, it’s because it didn’t receive the proper maintenance. Some of this maintenance may need to focus on the condenser.

The Summer Issues Facing Your Condenser

In the summer, the sun’s heat is liable to bring the efficiency of your condenser down.

That’s because the unit is hindered by the sun’s heat, which raises the unit’s temperature and makes the compressor and condenser work harder to reach the same level of heat purge under normal conditions.

But a loss of efficiency isn’t the only problem. The facts are direr.

Because the compressor has to pump harder to compress refrigerant so the condenser has a chance to getting rid of its heat, the compression ratio grows. When this ratio is increased over too long a time, you fry the compressor early.

Your AC technician can assess the flow and thermal load of your refrigerant and make sure it’s optimized for the season.

But you still have to make sure the condenser is clean.

How to Check the Condenser Coil

Part of regular maintenance is assuring the condenser is freed from dirt and debris. When the component looks clean, there still may be dirt that is blocking pipes and obstructing airflow.

Since air flow is what gets rid of heat, any visible sign of dirt or obstruction is going to affect cooling efficiency and compressor life span.

Shading the outdoor AC unit is helpful, so is positioning it so it won’t be facing sun during the hottest parts of the day. This means placing it on the Eastern side of a house.

However, foliage or other shade needs to be not so close as to blow the heated air back into the machine when it’s released.

For more information about how you can increase the power of your AC, call Anytime today and get a free quote or needed maintenance.