Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Installation Advice

Air conditioning can be installed in your home in Sheffield or place of business in order to provide control and regulation of your internal environment, allowing you to adjust the ambient temperature around you as a response to the weather and your own personal tastes. While for some, air conditioning is a luxury item that simply helps to make the hotter days of the year more comfortable, for many homes and workplaces, air conditioning is an essential, without which the ambient temperature would become intolerable to those within it.
 
Air conditioning can also be used to provide climate controlled environments, which may be necessary to maintain the stability of a storage environment or to assist with plant growth, as well as to allow the people within the building to manage their own environment manually. Uncomfortably hot offices and other workplaces can have a direct and negative impact on productivity, and so for many organisations, the initial outlay of funds for an air conditioning installation will ultimately pay for itself in the long run.
 
If you are considering having air conditioning and refrigeration installed in your home or place of business, this article will give you a short run-down of how air conditioning works, and how to pick the right installer for your air conditioning and refrigeration system.
 

How air conditioning and refrigeration works

When we refer to refrigeration in relation to air conditioning in Sheffield, we are talking about the refrigerant or coolant unit that actually lowers the temperature of the ambient air, as opposed to a simpler system of fans that circulate air around a room or building.
 
Air conditioning systems essentially work in the same way as refrigerators for cooling food, by using electricity to circulate warm air from inside through the refrigeration unit so that it is cooled before recirculating it to an outside vent to remove warm air from the interior of the building.
 
The evaporator of the air conditioner unit is what cools the inside of the building, while the condenser releases the heat outside again. Both the evaporator and condenser are constructed of serpentines of tube (normally copper) made up of condensing coils, all encased within aluminium fins.
 
The air conditioning unit’s compressor, which is a form of pumping mechanism, regulates the movement of refrigerant fluid between the condenser and the evaporator, by pushing the unit’s refrigerant fluid through the coils of tubes and fins to provide cooling.
 
This refrigerant liquid evaporates off in the evaporator, drawing the warm air from inside of the building out and so, cooling the internal space. This hotter gas is then pumped into the condenser, where it transforms back into liquid, releasing its heat outside via the condenser’s find and tubing, and beginning the cycle all over again.
 
The process of air conditioning’s functions ultimately involve taking warmer air from inside and circulating it outside to cool the room or building, and this means that air conditioning and refrigeration units need to vent to the outside world. For larger installations, the air conditioning unit is usually placed on the roof, whilst for smaller installations such as for the home, the unit itself may form part of a window.
 
It is important to hire a professional installer for your air conditioning and refrigeration system, so that you will be able to discuss the various different options regarding where your unit can be installed in order to ensure the maximum efficiency of the unit with the smallest visual impact.
 
Whilst all air conditioning and refrigeration systems work in essentially the same way when it comes to the circulation, cooling and recycling of air, there are various different ways that this can be achieved, some of which are more suitable for some types of installations than others.
 
Mechanical HVAC systems (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) are often a good choice, allowing you to provide ventilation for fresh air, air conditioning to keep the ambient temperature comfortable, and heating for the cooler months of the year all in one unit. However, this may not be a suitable system for all applications, such as if there is already a central heating system in place, or if one wishes to provide air conditioning and cooling only.
 
The person who installs your air conditioning and refrigeration system will be able to advise you about the various different options available, and guide you towards finding the right choice to suit your own usage needs.
 

Air conditioning installation

Installing a new air conditioning and refrigeration system is a large and complex task, which requires a significant amount of knowledge and experience to perform competently. It should not be viewed as something that can be performed by the DIY enthusiast, and for larger workplaces or other locations that require a large amount of space to be cooled, it may require a whole team of engineers to design and install a new system.
As well as the fitting and installation of the air conditioning and refrigeration unit itself, the process of installing a new system also involves a significant amount of design and planning, in order to ensure that the system is fit for purpose, easy to control, energy efficient and safe.
 
All air conditioning designers and installation engineers should be competent and experienced in the installation of such systems, so it is worth asking to see some examples of their previous projects, and their testimonials.
 
Professional air conditioning and refrigeration specialists generally hold a City and Guilds (or equivalent) qualification in air conditioning installation and maintenance, and they should also be F-Gas Registered, which is essential for all persons working with F-gas refrigerants due to the health and safety and environmental implications of their usage.
It is also worth bearing in mind that the government regulations on the use of F-gas refrigerants have changed significantly in recent years, and further changes are scheduled over the course of the next couple of decades too.
 
Make sure you select an installer that stays abreast of all of the current F-gas regulations and those that are scheduled for future implementation that may impact your installation, and double-check the information that you are provided with carefully.