What’s an Evaporator Coil?
The first step is to learn about the evaporator coil’s basic parts, where it is in the air conditioner, and what it does.
An air conditioner can’t work without the evaporator coil. Its job is to take the heat out of the air and make it cooler. It is either connected to a furnace or within the air handler. It looks like a radiator from an automobile. The condenser and evaporator coils work together to transfer heat, which makes the space inside the car cooler.
How does a coil that evaporates water work?
A closed-loop coolant system that has coolant is part of a split-system AC unit. Refrigerants are chemicals that can absorb a lot of heat and can change from a gas to a liquid and back again under pressure.
The evaporator’s job is to pull heat from the air inside and reveal it to the coolant that moves through the coil’s copper tubes. When it gets to the evaporator, the refrigerant is 80% fluid and 20% steam. The copper tubes keep the cold vapor at about 40 degrees, which helps the refrigerant absorb heat as much as possible. As the coolant moves through the coil, it picks up heat from the warm air that flows over the evaporator. The result is a change in heat called latent heat transfer.
What does Latent Heat Transfer mean? It is the amount of heat lost by a unit of mass. It is also called heat transformation. During this part of the evaporation process, the temperature does not rise, but the heat is turned into vapor.
Once all of the coolants inside the coil have turned into vapor, it goes through a process that makes it very hot. The vapor goes through a full cycle, going back towards the compressor and then to the condenser, where it changes back to its original form of 80% water and 20% vapor. Because it is a reduced pressure coolant, it can keep going through the same process while still cooling the air that goes through the AC.
If somehow the evaporator coil seems to be dirty, what will happen?
The evaporator coil is the part of your ac unit that cools the air. If it’s dirty, you’re spending on air that isn’t clean. When dirt and dust get into your cooling system, they can damage expensive parts like the compressor and condenser coils. If you don’t clean the evaporator coils, your energy bills will go up, and you’ll have to replace parts.
Here are some of the most frequent issues with evaporator coils:
- Frozen Coil
Even though it may sound strange, if the evaporator coil freezes, the air conditioner won’t be able to cool the air as well as it could. Even though this seems backward, it’s because ice on the outlet pipe gets in the way of the main job of the refrigerant, which is to soak up heat from the air. A layer of ice behaves as insulation, stopping warm air from getting in. If there is ice on the outer pipe of the coil, the air conditioner will keep running, but it won’t cool as well as it should.
How To Repair a Frozen Coil
For an ac unit to work, there must be enough airflow. Once airflow is restricted or stopped, it throws off the balancing act of the air conditioner’s operating system. The first step is determining what stops the air from flowing through the unit.
The most logical thing to do is to look for any harm or kinks in the pipes blocking the airflow. This often happens when an aircon has just been put incorrectly.
The second most prevalent reason is a small amount of coolant, so ensure there is enough coolant in the unit by checking the refrigerant level.
- Leaking
Most of the time, the coil can tell whether there is a leak. A leak in the ac unit will, of course, throw off the system’s balance. When the system is out of balance, the unit will immediately work much harder, putting more stress on the AC motor, which will lead to more serious problems in the long run.
How to Repair a Unit That Leaks
If you find a leak in the ac unit, you should fix it as soon as possible. The chemicals that make up refrigerants are very dangerous and shouldn’t be tried to touch or breathed in because they can damage the skin and cause serious breathing problems. These chemicals are very dangerous to people, animals, and the environment and should be handled as such. When trying to deal with this problem, don’t put it off.
Leaking refrigerant is not only bad for your health and the environment, but it can also hurt your air conditioner. It will eat away at the exterior of the coil, causing wear and tear that will shorten the air conditioner’s life.
Leaks are easy to find if you check the unit regularly. If you find a leak, you should not try to fix it yourself. Instead, you should contact a qualified aircon expert to start taking care of it as possible to avoid health risks.
- Debris and Dirt
Although it appears obvious, you’d be amazed by the number of air conditioners left to get so dirty that they can’t breathe. You probably already know that an evaporator coil covered with ice can’t work right. This is also true for dirt and other things. A light layer of dust won’t hurt the coil, but if too much dirt and debris are allowed to build up on the outer tubes, it will shield the coil similarly to ice. This will stop the coil from taking in heat and turning it into colder air as it should.
To maintain your air conditioner, you should clean the evaporator coil. This is a simple task, which is good news. First, get rid of any dust and debris you can see, like leaves, grass, and stray pieces of plastic, which are common things to find around coils.
How Can You Clean an Evaporator Coil?
Always turn off the power before you clean. You use a spray cleaning product and a brush to softly brush the dirt off the coil. After cleaning, spray the coil with water and let it dry before turning the ac unit back on. If it is properly cleaned at the start of every season, it will help the unit last longer and work better. The unit will also cost less to run if the coil is clean.