This video is a basic overview of a condenser and what it does in air conditioning and refrigeration. Hosted by Bryan Orr.
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So this quick video is on the condenser, the component of the basic refrigerant circuit component of typical air conditioning equipment that you probably have in your home or office. They generally are all gon na have a condenser. If you look on the back of an old refrigerator, you had that that coil that ran up and down the back, that was a condenser and a condensers job, is a heat rejecter. It rejects heat from the system.
Evaporator coil absorbs the heat. Compressor is the pressure increase, her metering device is the pressure drop er and the condensers job is to reject the heat that was absorbed in that evaporator coil. So that's what it does, but how does it do it? Well, three things actually happen inside of the condenser. There is the D super heating phase.
There is the condensing phase that change from vapor to liquid, and then there is the sub cooling phase, and so we'll talk about this briefly. But these super heating phase is taking that refrigerant. That came out of that compressor down to the condensing temperature or the saturation temperature of the refrigerant, and all that is, is just the temperature at the given pressure at which there's a mixed state between liquid and vapor. If you don't know what saturation is it's a word that a lot of technicians, you know kind of misinterpret.
You can look that up on the HVAC school website have all sorts of articles on saturation and podcasts on saturation. It's the point at which the refrigerant starts to change state and so we're gon na change from vapor to liquid in the condenser first Adi superheats. Then it changes state, so they're, big center portion of that condenser is changing the state from vapor to liquid and then, if they n its sub cools, which means it drops temperature below the condensing temperature or below saturation. So those are the three things that happen inside that condenser, but how do they do it? Well, the condenser has to reject heat, that's its job, it's the heat rejecter, so it has to reject heat to something - and in this case it's generally air and your typical air conditioner at your house.
The split system package unit window unit, whatever it's generally the air um, but it can also be water. It could be like all. It could be a lot of different substances. It could be another refrigerant, that's used, but the goal is to get that heat out of that refrigerant and to something else.
Now, that's something else that is rejecting its heat to by its very nature, has to be a lower temperature. As an example, we'll use a typical residential split system. So let's say you have a, I don't know a condensing temperature of 110 degrees, we'll say, and you have an outdoor temperature of 90 degrees, you'll notice, there's a 20 degree difference that outdoor temperature has to be lower than that condensing temperature. In order for heat to come out of the refrigerant in the condenser and to be rejected into the air first rule hot goes to cold right. You have to reject heat from the condenser to something that is a lower temperature. Then they can answer. So when you look at that condensing temperature - and we do that by looking at a gage - and it tells us what that condensing temperature is by its very nature - it must be higher than the medium that we are rejecting to. So whereas air is not the best thing to reject heat to water is better, so there's differentials might vary, but regardless, no matter what we're rejecting to the temperature rejecting to must be lower than the temperature of the refrigerant in the condenser.
That's the Quebec, condensing temperature. It's also useful to know that most condensers are piped, especially you know the air-cooled types that we work on generally they're pipe. So that way the refrigerant starts in the top. So it comes out of the discharge line from the compressor goes into the top of the condenser and then works its way down until it becomes fully liquid at the bottom or sub cooled again.
Sub cooled is temperature below that condensing temperature. So that's mostly it condensers. Can be, we can reject heat to a lot of different types of mediums, but they are all heat rejecters and they go through the three phases they all have to the D super heating phase. That brings it to the condensing temperature, which is that first little bit on the top, and then you have that condensing phase, which is through the bulk of the condenser and then at the end.
That's when you have the sub cooling phase, which is the drop below the saturation temperature, you can only have sub cool once the refrigerant is fully liquid. You can only have superheat if it is fully vapor and that condensing temperature segment is all there in the middle. So it's like it's like watching a boiling pot of water, but in Reverse it's changing from liquid to vapor instead of vapor to liquid. That's your condenser, the heat rejector thanks for watching we'll catch you in the next video.
great video. thaks so much
Reject heat? You mean transfer heat? Rejecting would mean something that is coming into a system, but never makes it. Transferring the heat would mean there is already heat in the system and it's being transferred in or out, in this case out. You used "reject" a lot in this explanation, but that word is not the correct term in this system. I'm not splitting hairs here either, this made the explanation more confusing for people that understand the difference between reject and transfer. Even "eject" would have been a more proper term than reject. Ejecting heat from the system; although this is still the wrong term, because it denotes "work" being done to remove heat, while the condenser just allows for the proper conditions for heat to transfer.
Thanks for the clarity
Condenser
1. Superheated phase:
Condenser received 100% superheated vapor from Compressor.
2. Vapor phase;
Condenser fan removes sensible heat out, superheated vapor temperature drops to approach saturation temperature. 100% superheated vapor changes to 100% vapor due to the temperature drop.
3. Vapor-Liquid Phase:
Saturation begins to downward from 100% to approach liquid phase or zero percent vapor.
4. Liquid phase
5. Subcool phase: sensible heat removed again to reach the required temperature below the saturation temperature.
Means sensible heat is removed in the beginning and end phases?
I don’t know why but I can’t wrap my head around how the temperature of the refrigerant can get below ambient air temperature😕 Service area Ottawa??
Great video, thank you…
Sorry Bryan, but poor explanation without the fact that the higher the pressure the higher the temp and the compressor makes the higher pressure. You did briefly touch on this point, but you didn't connect the two. Keep up the good work.
oh wow Bill Burr does HVAC
thanks for the Great video
i need to understand something
if the condenser is bigger it will eject more heat into the air.. but how will that effect the Ac system do we need to add mire refrigerant ?
am asking this because the ac in my country never gets cold enough if you set the fan on high but if you pour some water over the condenser you can select the highest fan setting and it will stay very cold.
What will happen if the air have i high humidity? Does this effact the condenser job ? Ypu say the medium that we reject the heat to should have i low temperature, so if it have a high humidity what will happen ?
Very cool. What happens when the condenser would be forced to reject heat to air that’s higher in temp? Why would such a case even exist? Thx
On Evaporators, I often see multiple loops (or circuits) wherein a single inlet branches into multiple tubes in the evaporator and the individual outs congregate into a single pipe. Does it also happen with condensers? And why design like this? Are you in Kanata ?
Excellent video u make it so easy to understand
Wouldn't saturation and dew point be the same thing?
My condenser is not running when my heater is running inside my house. I can hear and feel the air through the vents, but again, the condenser outside isn't running at all. Should I just place the thermostat to off just in case my condenser is faulty?
hi if the condenser is for rejecting heat why is painted black?
So my condenser wont shut off even if the thermostat is set to off or room temp. I have tol pull the fuse to get it to turn off. Where do i look first to fix this?
Great Teacher ! Service area Barrhaven??
Good man
the heat reflector I mean rejector LOL just kidding thanks again love to learn that stuff no wonder I like science in high school
Thank you sir!! Great video ,that made so much sense. I am elated to be learning HVAC from your youtube videos.
very good me learning much with you i live in brazil
Thanks for your videos, I’m not a HVAC tech but I can read a schematic and have kept my heat pump running since 1985 when I had it installed. If something happened in the refrigerant loop I would need one of you guys though. I have kind of a crude way of checking performance by just holding the line as it goes into the air handler when it’s about 40 degrees outside, if it feels just hot enough to not hold it very long I call it good. I most likely will need a new system before to long. Thanks again for the interesting videos.
Quick and simple
Good video
Great video.Good job
Thank you for such a great video!!! Are you in Nepean ?