Central Air Questions

SkyRider

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Mar 31, 2009
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I have central air. The unit sits in front of the house. The unit has a large fan and shiny fins.

What comes out of that unit? Is it hot air from inside the house? Does the unit emit any pollutants?
 

Kenny-sauga

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Feb 20, 2005
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Thought it was something to do with Airline...lol

I am sure someone will reply to your exact question. Do note that moving parts and young kids don't go together very well...in case you have some.
 

Kenny-sauga

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Feb 20, 2005
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Thought it was something to do with Airline...lol

I am sure someone will reply to your exact question. Do note that moving parts and young kids don't go together very well...in case you have some.
 

fmahovalich

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Aug 21, 2009
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Only outdoor cooling air...is drawn through the exterior unit for cooling purposes.

No pollutants of any kind
 

SkyRider

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Mar 31, 2009
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No pollutants of any kind
My installer said that it is environmentally friendlier to use puron instead of freon or something like that. Cost me an extra $500. If there is no pollutants than what difference does puron or freon do to the environment?
 

Tangwhich

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Jan 26, 2004
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My installer said that it is environmentally friendlier to use puron instead of freon or something like that. Cost me an extra $500. If there is no pollutants than what difference does puron or freon do to the environment?
I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe you can even buy freon any more.. it was banned years ago.
The environmental hazard is if the freon leaks. It depletes the ozone layer.
 

Ceiling Cat

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2009
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It works pretty much like your refrigerator. In the refrigerator heat is removed and transfered to the outside of the fridge. There are fins in the back of the fridge that get hot as heat is removed from the inside. It is the same principle that removes heat from your home. A pot of hot soup will slowly loose that heat through the metal pot, but in the refrigerator system and the AC system the heat quickly removed mechanically.
 

trm

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Apr 8, 2009
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My installer said that it is environmentally friendlier to use puron instead of freon or something like that. Cost me an extra $500. If there is no pollutants than what difference does puron or freon do to the environment?
The refrigerant, puron or freon, is sealed inside the unit and will not get into the atmosphere. I think you got taken.
 

dman44

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Feb 4, 2010
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The refrigerant, puron or freon, is sealed inside the unit and will not get into the atmosphere. I think you got taken.
The major difference comes to what kind of technician is installing or uninstalling your Air conditioner. ( by the way old freon is still for sale R22 until 2012, I think)

But yeah if you have a proper technician who does not overcharge your lineset's and knows his way around a reclaimer then as far as environmental impact there should be none. It's when you get these wanna be refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic's that have never used a reclaimer and usually cracks the valves spewing freon into the atmosphere that it makes the biggest difference. Also 410 a systems tend to have a TX valve and are usually more efficient
 

dman44

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Feb 4, 2010
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I have central air. The unit sits in front of the house. The unit has a large fan and shiny fins.

What comes out of that unit? Is it hot air from inside the house? Does the unit emit any pollutants?
Here's a lesson for you, Commercial refrigeration is a science of vague assumptions, based upon debatable figures, taken from inconclusive experiments performed with instruments of problematical accuracy, by persons of doubtful reliability and questionable mentality.:thumb:


No but really... Basically freon starts from your compressor coming out hot and very high psi (high temp=high psi) When it hits your tx valve or metering device it is sent through a small hole which drops the pressure drastically and causes the freon to vapourize and steal the heat. As your freon works its way through your evap it is stealing all of the hot air due to such a massive pressure drop. When the freon goes through the evap coil and finally back into the condenser it takes all of the heat from the evap out to the condenser. At this point the condenser fan draws heat away from the freon as it runs through your condenser coil before it liquifies and is sucked right back into the compressor and this process starts over. There is no such thing as just cooling an area. Your are removing heat from one place, and expelling it to another.
 
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SkyRider

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Mar 31, 2009
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The refrigerant, puron or freon, is sealed inside the unit and will not get into the atmosphere. I think you got taken.
Furthermore, my installer said that if I ever have to replace the refrigerant, it is better with puron because freon will probably not be available in the future. I paid for a SEER 14 puron unit because I wanted to be environmentally friendly and now I find out that the refrigerant is inside a sealed unit so it doesn't matter if it is puron or freon.
 

dman44

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Feb 4, 2010
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Furthermore, my installer said that if I ever have to replace the refrigerant, it is better with puron because freon will probably not be available in the future. I paid for a SEER 14 puron unit because I wanted to be environmentally friendly and now I find out that the refrigerant is inside a sealed unit so it doesn't matter if it is puron or freon.
He's not actually wrong... 5 years from now a can of r22 will be verrrry expensive (because it won;t be produced anymore) But yeah the environmentally friendly aspect is only when releasing into the atmosphere(big no no). Can you imagine in countries in the middle east where all they use is ac and refrigeration ??? And you can bet your ass nobodys got cans of 410a out there, or reclaimers, or reclaim tanks. For christ sakes half of the mechanics out there operate without gauges..HILARIOUS...! and they wonder why we have a diminishing ozone layer.
If you ever have a leak for w/e reason 410 will be alot cheaper to get ur hands on.
 

oldjones

CanBarelyRe Member
Aug 18, 2001
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Furthermore, my installer said that if I ever have to replace the refrigerant, it is better with puron because freon will probably not be available in the future. I paid for a SEER 14 puron unit because I wanted to be environmentally friendly and now I find out that the refrigerant is inside a sealed unit so it doesn't matter if it is puron or freon.
And when that unit goes to the landfill, will it still be a sealed unit?

We've gotta learn to think stuff thru past coffee-time today, all the way to eventual disposal. That is why there's a coupla threads about the lifespan of glass condos, exactly what their builders planned for as they sold off that responsibility to buyers who were more concerned with where they'd celebrate their low-price deal that with asking whether the building would outlast their mortgage payments.

Time to wake up and do life-cycle cost analysis folks. SkyRider, freon was so harmless just a few years ago that it was the commonest propellant in every aerosol spray, disposal meant puncturing the tank and waitin for the hiss to die. Ask your installer how much he now charges to safely remove and dispose of freon when he finds it (and whether he's licensed and inspected to do so when he does). Then ask him to guarantee you won't be dinged for a similar charge when we find out the hazards of puron.

TANSTAAFL.
 

LKD

Active member
Aug 6, 2006
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I have central air. The unit sits in front of the house. The unit has a large fan and shiny fins.

What comes out of that unit? Is it hot air from inside the house? Does the unit emit any pollutants?
the unit doesn't only provide air conditioning but also circulates air in your house and makes it healthier for occupants by removing stale air and some humidity... So to answer your question, it doesn't remove 'hot air' per say but stale air. Does it emit any pollutants? well, that depends on whether the air inside your house has any pollutants or fungus growing in undesirable areas. :p
 

dman44

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Feb 4, 2010
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the unit doesn't only provide air conditioning but also circulates air in your house and makes it healthier for occupants by removing stale air and some humidity... So to answer your question, it doesn't remove 'hot air' per say but stale air. Does it emit any pollutants? well, that depends on whether the air inside your house has any pollutants or fungus growing in undesirable areas. :p
Would you please inform me how your AC removes stale air? It does remove humidity by condensation forming on the evap coil and draining down into the catch pan. And you could say it filters the air (somewhat) as the return air is forced through a filter.An air conditioner does not have a fresh air intake, It is recirculating air drawn in from your return duct. Meaning all the evapourator coil does is remove heat and has nothing to do with removing stale air, as the same air is being recirculated over and over again.
Your fresh air intake runs with the furnace as oxygen is essential to the combustion process.
 

Moraff

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Nov 14, 2003
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And that fresh air intake is only for the furnace, it doesn't add any significant fresh air to your house. If your house is reasonably airtight you should install an HRV unit to keep your air fresh w/o throwing all your hot or cold air out the window.
 

james t kirk

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2001
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the unit doesn't only provide air conditioning but also circulates air in your house and makes it healthier for occupants by removing stale air and some humidity... So to answer your question, it doesn't remove 'hot air' per say but stale air. Does it emit any pollutants? well, that depends on whether the air inside your house has any pollutants or fungus growing in undesirable areas. :p
Not quite sunshine.

The unit that sits outside is a heat exchanger. Plain and simple. It does not move any air whatsoever from inside the house. Nadda. The air you feel blasting out through the top of the unit outside is simply outside air that is being drawn over the cooling fins at the bottom or sides of the unit by the fan you see in the unit outside and it (the air from outside) is blasted out the top. It is not inside air being blasted outside.

In the science of Thermodynamics, you do not gain cold. You either gain or lose heat. Air conditioning works by removing heat from inside the house, much like your body removes heat by sweating and evapourating (it is the evaporation of sweat process which cools your body.)

There is a second heat exchanger inside the core of the furnace (the Evaporator) and the heat exchanger you see sitting outside (the condensor). The compressor of the air conditioner (also located in the unit outside) pressurizes the freon gas into a liquid and it gets pumped inside the house. There, it evapourates (inside the evapourator) so to speak and in the process removes heat from the air passing over the evapourator (being circulated by the fan of the furnace).

So no, it does not emit any pollution persay, unless you count the pollution that was created in order to generate the electicity (coal, natural gas, uranium, etc.)
 

dman44

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Feb 4, 2010
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Not quite sunshine.

The unit that sits outside is a heat exchanger. Plain and simple. It does not move any air whatsoever from inside the house. Nadda. The air you feel blasting out through the top of the unit outside is simply outside air that is being drawn over the cooling fins at the bottom or sides of the unit by the fan you see in the unit outside and it (the air from outside) is blasted out the top. It is not inside air being blasted outside.

In the science of Thermodynamics, you do not gain cold. You either gain or lose heat. Air conditioning works by removing heat from inside the house, much like your body removes heat by sweating and evapourating (it is the evaporation of sweat process which cools your body.)

There is a second heat exchanger inside the core of the furnace (the Evaporator) and the heat exchanger you see sitting outside (the condensor). The compressor of the air conditioner (also located in the unit outside) pressurizes the freon gas into a liquid and it gets pumped inside the house. There, it evapourates (inside the evapourator) so to speak and in the process removes heat from the air passing over the evapourator (being circulated by the fan of the furnace).

So no, it does not emit any pollution persay, unless you count the pollution that was created in order to generate the electicity (coal, natural gas, uranium, etc.)
You cannot tell somebody a Condenser coil and evap coil are the same as a heat exchanger... They are not even close. A heat exchanger has one purpose, to separate flue gases from heat. A condenser and evapourator coil are much more complicated. The condenser "sort of" works like a heat exchanger, meaning that it does expel heat around the condenser coil but that is not its sole purpose.. It also "condenses" your refrigerant before going into your receiver and then into your metering device... Or maybe I'm wrong and you can take subcooling and superheat calculations from a heat exchanger :Eek:
 

james t kirk

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2001
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^^^Read under hvac

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_exchanger

Simply put, a heat exchanger is a mechanical device that transfers heat from one medium to another. The evapourator coil inside the furnace removes heat from the air passing over it, therefore, it is a heat exchanger. A condensor expells the heat into the atmosphere outside the house.

A heat exchanger is not only a firebox in a furnace.

Even a human body is a heat exchanger.
 
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