A Quick Guide To The Parts That Make Up Your Air Conditioner If you’ve gotten a quote for installing a new central air conditioning unit recently, you might have been a bit confused by the lingo that was used to name the different parts of the system. What does a condenser and coil have to do with anything? You just wanted a quote on a new ac unit right? Let me shed a little light on the terms that describe each of the components that make up your air conditioning system. That round’ish piece of equipment that sits outside on the ground that everyone refers to as their air conditioner is technically referred to as a condenser. You’ll also hear it called the ‘outside unit’ as well. Part of your condenser is called a coil, or condenser coil, not to be confused with the evaporator coil that is inside your home attached to the furnace. This is the piece of your air conditioning system that most people never see. It’s contained in a metal box called a plenum, and sits on top of your furnace.

If you have a horizontal furnace in an attic, the evaporator coil will sit on one end of the furnace instead of on top. The ‘inside unit’ or ‘indoor coil’ are other common names that are used when talking about your evaporator coil. Lineset refers to the copper refrigerant lines that run from your condenser (the outside unit) to your evaporator coil. It’s very common for people to make the mistake of calling their outside unit the compressor instead of the condenser. A compressor is actually a big component that sits inside the condenser (the outside unit). The plenum is the metal box that sits on top of your furnace and houses the evaporator coil. The condensate drain is the white plastic (PVC) pipe that runs from your evaporator coil to the drain in your floor, or to the condensate pump that was installed if you don’t have a floor drain. This pipe allows the condensate (moisture) that the evaporator coil produces to be drained out of the plenum. I get questions about the names for these air conditioner components all the time, so hopefully this helps clear up any confusion as to what the different parts are called.

I’ll post another article explaining what each of these components do for those of you who want to dazzle your friends with your detailed knowledge of how air conditioning actually works.Where To Buy Curtains Brooklyn Ny I have a Cape Cod with 1000 ft2 on the first floor and an apartment in the attic. Personal Wearable Air Purifier ReviewsIn a few years I may get rid of the apartment and build up a second story + attic. 3 Day Blinds Repair InstructionsBoth the first floor and the attic currently have window AC units. The heat is hot water radiators and the boiler is on gas. Does it make sense to install high-velocity AC in the crawl space for the first floor and later, when I build up the second floor, add another AC system in the new attic to cool it?

Or is that going to be too expensive? I'm thinking that a dual zone system would be nice anyway. Are two AC systems twice as expensive than a single dual-zone one? Or what is the ratio? Also, what are the prices of such systems? A dual-zone system is one heating element and/or AC coil serving two separate ductwork segments. The extra cost of a dual-zone system as opposed to a single-zone system is in the dual-zone temperature monitoring/control panels, and a system-controlled diverter that sends the air to the side of the system that needs it (or both). One interior and one exterior unit to buy/maintain. Drastically reduces most routine maintenance costs and generally increases MTBF. Easier to balance your home's ventilation; you don't have to worry about the relative heating/cooling capacity of two units versus the space they're expected to cover. Dual-zone systems usually have a "master/slave" control panel arrangement allowing the "master" panel to control both zones while the "slave" panel can either also control both or only control the secondary zone, possibly with additional restrictions like max/min temperature that can be set on the master panel.

if something on the one unit goes, there is no heated/cooled air anywhere in your home. Impossible to differentiate the electric costs of you versus an upstairs tenant. Longer ventilation runs to the second zone, depending on home design; the second zone needs vents and returns run from the main unit to a usually distant part of the home. These longer runs will not be as efficient. To supply ample heated/cooled air to both zones at once, the unit must usually be a bit beefier than a comparable single-zone system, to compensate for inefficiencies and maintain desired airflow when both zones are being ventilated. You cannot have the heat on in one zone and the A/C on in another. The entire system must be set to heat or cooling, meaning if your tenant likes it substantially warmer or cooler than you do, the ability of the system to provide the proper temperatures can be limited at times. A dual-unit system will have two separate single-zone HVAC units each controlling one area of the home (upstairs-downstairs is common in new construction, as is having a second HVAC for a new addition).

Having a backup system means at least some of your house can still be heated or cooled in the event of a failure of one unit. Vent runs can usually be shorter, as the units can be strategically placed in new construction for the most efficient ductwork layout to each zone. Each unit can be smaller than a single unit for the whole house would have to be, meaning the exterior units can be located in tight spaces or more easily hidden behind shrubs. By hooking the second HVAC along with all upstairs circuits to a sub-meter, you can easily determine (and sever) the electrical costs of an income property. More expensive to put in than a single unit, even a dual-zone. Two 1-ton units will cost more than a 2-ton. Maintenance costs also increase; with two units the MTBF of a single unit in the home is halved, meaning on average you'll have to call the repair guy twice as often.There are some nice thermostats that can communicate wirelessly (usually as part of a whole-house automation/alarm system), but basically each unit will be its own completely separate system and to balance the temperature in the whole house you must go upstairs and down to fiddle with settings.