Information about heat, cold, noise, split unit, window unit, refrigeration cycle, compressor, blower fan, condenser fan, expansion valve, copper tubing, elecrical wiring ...

Heat-Cold-Noise Split

By Thomas Yoon

The most common air conditioning units we see nowadays is the air-cooled split unit. It used to be the window unit many years ago. I guess it must be quietness of the split units that won the hearts of the users.

In any air conditioning unit, there must be a process for absorbing heat from the indoors and discharging it to the outdoors. For air-cooled units, the heat is discharged directly to the atmosphere.

What's the difference then between window units and split units?

In the window units, the whole refrigeration circuit is installed in a box-like enclosure. The cold portion is separated from the hot portion by partitions. As the name suggests, usually it is installed at a window, mainly because this is the easiest place to make an opening in the wall. Failure to find a window opening may mean hacking the wall to create an opening roughly the same size as the window air cond unit.

Because the compressor, blower fan, condenser fans and other moving machinery are all installed in the same box, much of the noise they make gets transmitted to the room indoors. This type of air conditioning unit tends to be quite noisy.

Now, if we split the refrigeration circuit, placing the compressor, and the condenser units outdoors, and the expansion valve with the evaporator coil indoors, we will be able to reduce much of the noise.

This is exactly what happens in the air-cooled split units. More copper tubing, electrical wiring, bracketing, and other installation work may be required, but it will be worth the extras if you are looking for quietness and better appearance.

One word of caution! Make sure that the copper piping is sized and laid up properly. If not, you may find that your compressor seizes up due to lack of lubrication oil. The lubrication oil goes out from the compressor but does not return.

Until next time…

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