:: Air Compressor Parts ::

As many as eighty percent of the new homes being built in the U.S. are built with central air conditioning units installed. Central air just makes sense, as it keeps the indoor temperatures comfortable while filtering and dehumidifying the air. This is particularly nice for people who suffer from allergies or asthma. Fortunately, central air conditioning units can be installed in preexisting homes, too.

When shopping around for central air conditioning units, there are several things to consider. One is the size of the home you will be cooling. Air conditioning units come in different sizes, so it is important to choose the most efficient size for the cooling job you have in mind. If the unit is too large, it won’t dehumidify properly. To determine the right size, consult a contractor. They should have access to a calculation method called “Manual J” that can help you choose a size.

Another important consideration in central air conditioning units is a rating called the SEER rating. These letters stand for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. New air conditioners are required to have a rating of 13. A unit that was installed over twenty years ago probably has a rating of only 7 or 8. This is because technology has improved the energy efficiency.

By replacing old inefficient air conditioners with new central air conditioning units, you can save a lot of money in cooling costs. It is estimated that increasing the SEER rating from 11.5 to 13 could save you over $500 each year in cooling costs. Also, look for “Scroll(tm) technology” when choosing a compressor for the latest in efficiency.

Another thing to look for in central air conditioning units is the “Energy Star.” This is a certification given to new appliances that use less energy than other new models. Of course, they use a lot less than equivalent units that are a number of years old.

When installing central air conditioning units, the location of the outdoor unit can make a big difference. If it is surrounded by vegetation or is under a deck, the air will not be able to flow freely in and out of it. Not only that, the units can be noisy. Don’t install it near an area where you like to enjoy eating or visiting outdoors, such as a patio or deck.

Carlo Morelli writes for onlinetips.org, where you can read more about portable air conditioners and ductless air conditioners.

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Perhaps the most widely used air conditioners are the window air conditioners. They are quite popular for heating and cooling in both domestic and commercial premises. The basic advantage of a window air conditioner is that unlike the central air conditioners and the split air conditioners, it fits well in the window giving a good look and it does not occupy any space of the room at all.

Moreover, window air conditioners do not need to be shifted every now and then from one place to the other. However, like any other air conditioning equipment, it produces noise, the intensity of which differs with the type and size of the window air conditioners. Constant noise can indeed be very disturbing and distressing to the home and surrounding residents.

It is, therefore, advisable for the consumer to compare window air conditioners by checking the sound power level labels on the unit or in the literature specifications. The noise levels are often given in decibel ratings and the higher the decibel level, the louder the unit will be. The sound pressure increases by a factor of ten for every 10-decibel increase. For example, 60 Decibels is 10 times louder than 50 Decibels and 100 times louder than 40 Decibels.

The compressor and the fan are combined in a single unit and mounted in the window air conditioners and this is the source of all the noise in the air conditioner. The other causes of noise could be worn bearings, cabinet rattles, dirty or rusty fan blades, worn rubber mountings and compressor wear. Regular maintenance can reduce the noise to some extent but with the passing of time, there is bound to be an increase in the level of the noise.

You should check whether your window air conditioner is vibrating or producing a rattling noise and if so, then it is not a normal situation. The reason for this can be improper installation or loose side panels. If, however, you hear a scraping noise, you should either take the help of an authorized service provider or you can also try to find out the cause and repair it yourself.

The following steps can help you in tracking the fault and repairing it:

You should tighten the screws holding the front panel onto the unit.
You should check carefully the window all round the unit. You should then turn the window air conditioner on and press your hand against the sash. If you find that as you press your hand against the sash, the sound changes in pitch, then you should put some wooden shims in the gap between the window air conditioners frame and the sash. If, however, the pitch of the noise changes when you press your hand on the glass, you should use some insulating cellophane tape between the glass and the frame. You might have to use putty if that does not reduce the noise.

If you feel that the sound is originating from within the unit, you should take the unit out of the window and check to see if the fan blades are bent. If so, just bend them back so that they match the others.

Portable Air Conditioners Ensure Economy And Convenience

With the onset of the damp weather, it becomes difficult to survive without constant central air conditioning but that can prove to be quite expensive. The answer to this problem is a portable air conditioner as it has many advantages. It is easy to shift from one place in the home to another and that makes a portable air conditioner the ideal cooling system solution for your home, office or industrial site.

The portable air conditioners are easy and quick to install, as they do not involve any lifting or tearing up of windowsills. Moreover it can be shifted very easily from one place in the home to the other. For taking care of the hot spots in the central air conditioning, the portable air conditioners are far more convenient than window air conditioners. It is also ideal for window shapes, which present problems for installation. There is nothing like portable air conditioners for use as a spot cooler in the home.

A portable air conditioner is an excellent choice for saving money as just one unit needs to be purchased and it can be shifted easily to where you need it as it is mounted on castors and some can weigh only about 36 pounds. Moreover, as only one room is cooled at a time instead of the whole house, the total energy consumption is very low as compared to other air conditioning systems.

Another advantage of portable air conditioners is the energy efficiency that they provide. The average efficiency is in the 8 to 10 range although some are as high as 15, which is 50 percent better than most older central air conditioners. The small size of the portable air conditioners is very advantageous and as such it can fit in a corner or against a wall. It functions like an effective dehumidifier if you do not vent the warm exhaust air out through a window and its size is also the same as that of a room dehumidifier.

In order to reduce humidity and allergies, even the small ones remove 35 pints of moisture per day from the room air. The portable air conditioners also use the heat-exchange principle as the other air conditioners to cool and dehumidify the air. The operating principle is also similar to a window air conditioner as the room air circulates over cold evaporator coils to cool and dehumidify it inside the unit. The room air is exhausted outdoor after flowing over the hot condenser. There is no chance of already-cooled indoor air escaping outside as two ducts are now used.

Nowadays, you have electronic controls in most models and you can set the desired room temperature, blower speed, start and stop timer, and operation mode (cool, dehumidify, heat). The portable air conditioners also have hand-held remote control with which you can conveniently change all the settings as per your need.

The other features of portable air conditioners include a built-in air cleaner with an optional charcoal filter and oscillating louvers to distribute the cool air throughout the room. You can also switch off the louvers to direct the flow of air towards yourself, if you so desire.

Jamie is author of other Air Conditioners Tips located at Home Improvement Tips and
Air conditioning Articles. Please stop by and sign up for our free home improvement tip news letter.

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It’s really easy to pick up a low cost air compressor at the local store anymore. But, how do you get the air from the compressor to your application? Folks that are plumbing up compressed air lines for their garages or workshops at home, as well as the professional plant person, have a variety of options with which to do connect the various air-lines available to them.

Usually the air compressor will come with a rudimentary kit which will include a PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) or RVC (Rubber Vinyl Chloride) air hose. If not, these kits are available as accessories.

Rather than having a clutter of air hose running across the floor (a trip hazard) consider emulating the factory installation. Have the discharge air line from the compressor run up to the ceiling in the garage or workshop, and then install “drop lines” down to the various locations on the bench where compressed air might be used.

The discharge from the compressor should have, at the very least, a compressed air filter where the air exits the receiver / tank, and the smaller home-compressors will often have a regulator there as well. Compressing air causes water problems, and you can read more about this in my article in this E-zine entitled “Why does water run out my compressed air lines…”. The regulator is necessary too, and you can read about this in an article titled “Why use a compressed air regulator” also on this site.

Commercial installations of compressed air will have a large general purpose compressed air filter at the compressor discharge, and then a filter, regulator and sometimes an in-line lubricator (oiler) at each of the points where the compressed air is to be used, to help deal with compressor generated water.

The regulator will provide the ability to control the pressure of the air to that particular application. You might want 90 PSI of air to run a grinder at one drop line, but farther along the bench you might only want 12 PSI for an air brush paint set up. Individual regulators give you this capability. If you are installing a regulator at each drop location, remove the regulator at the compressor to ensure you have full pressure and flow to the air main overhead and the drop lines.

The oiler use is dependant on what it is that the compressed air is running.

On your work bench, at the bottom of each drop line, you can install a coupler. A coupler is a device into which you can insert a connector. The coupler will be “checked”, meaning that compressed air is trapped at that point until a connector is inserted into the coupler which opens the “check” and allows air to flow.

Compressed air can then be supplied to the air tool or whatever you wish to drive with compressed air via an air-line extension cord. You can purchase ready made or you can make your own. They are lengths of air hose or tube with a connector at one end and a coupler at the other. The air tool will have a connector in it’s air port. When ready to supply compressed air to your tool, you simply insert your air-line extension cord connector into the drop line coupler, and the other end, which will be a coupler, has the air tool connector inserted into it.

Connectors and couplers are not all the same. Different manufacturers have differing styles and they are not usually interchangeable. When you first start purchasing couplers and connectors for your air line, make a note of the brand first purchased, and purchase the same brand as your needs continue.

I remember the difference between a coupler and a connector by making a mental image of a “cup” into which I insert the connector. The “cup” is the coupler.

If it were me installing an “air main” and drop legs down to my workbench in my garage, I would use soldered copper pipe. Copper pipe won’t rust, and there are more than sufficient adapters available to convert from the soldered (sweated) copper to a thread.

If opting for an overhead main, know that the longer the supply line to the application, the more pressure loss there will be. Each elbow and every turn creates a loss in available pressure at your application, so make the air main as large as practical. How big? Why not 3″‘ copper pipe at the ceiling and 3/4″ copper drop lines for the home workshop?

Remember that PVC or RVC air hose size is measure on the I.D. A 1/2″ air hose will have a 1/2″ I.D., regardless of the O.D. of the line. Different air line manufacturers will have hose with different wall thickness, so the outer diameters will vary.

To connect PVC or RVC air hose together, you can use the aforementioned couplers and connectors. Usually the coupler and connector has a “barbed” male protrusion, though other styles are certainly available. Make sure the “barb” size of the coupler / connector corresponds with the internal diameter of your air hose. A gear clamp (do yourself a favour and purchase stainless steel clamps over carbon steel. A few pennies more, but much longer life) is installed on the hose first, and then the barb is inserted into the I.D. of the hose. After insertion of the “barb” the gear clamp is brought up the air hose, over the area where the “barb” is inserted, and tightened firmly. Using a small wrench to tighten the clamp is preferable over a slotted screw-driver which have a tendency to distort the nut.

There are a variety of other fittings available to join air hose. “Barb” to “barb” connectors, “barbed” elbows, “barbed” T’s, and so on.

If you are planning on using a lot of compressed air, hours worth of tool use at time for example, your drop legs should have a manual valve at the bottom of them and the supply to your tool should be taken about six inches from the bottom. The manual valve will allow you to drain the water that will accumulate there. See ABOUT-air-compressors.com for more extensive information on plumbing for compressed air.

As to the smaller air lines themselves, perhaps running to an air valve, joining an air valve to a cylinder, or even a small air brush or air tool, P.E. (polyethylene) is the air tube of choice. It is chemically inert, won’t rust with air-borne water, has a variety of fittings available, and is inexpensive.

P.E. tube has a variety of fitting styles available.

It can be connected with compression-ring (ferrule) type fittings. A nut, and then the ring fits over the tube, and once the tube is inserted into the fitting, the compression-ring is brought down over the tube and then the nut is tightened onto the thread, compressing the ferrule and created a seal. This type of fitting is available in many configurations including straight fitting, elbow, ‘T’ and so on.

The easiest fitting for plumbing P.E. tube is the “instant” variety. There will be a hole, correctly sized for the O.D. of the tube, into which the tube, after it is cut squarely, can be inserted into the fitting. Inside the hole will be an “O” ring type seal, and then a collar of small metal fingers through which the tube passes. When the air is turned on, the P.E. tube swells a bit, and these “fingers” dig into the surface of the tube, holding it in. The “O” ring prevents escape of the compressed air. There will be a small ring on the exterior of the fitting which, when depressed, will “bend” the fingers out of the way, allowing the tube to be removed from the fitting when necessary. This should only take place if the air is off.

“Instant” type fittings may not work on soft air-line tube, such as polyurethane. Copper tube may present a problem too, as the “fingers” cannot easily grab the smooth surface of the tube.

There are some manufacturers that offer a line of miniature barbed fittings for tube. If you are installing many fittings in your application, they may offer a lower cost solution. The downside is that they significantly reduce the air flow through the smaller I.D. plastic tube.

For a good selection of air line couplers, connectors, hose, tube and fittings, consider locating and visiting your local industrial supplier of fluid power or compressed air components, rather than your local hardware or department store. Not only will the industrial supplier likely have everything you need in one location, undoubtedly, they too will have the expertise to provide the advice that will not necessarily be available at the other retail outlets.

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to visit my site and send me an email through the contact page there.

Bill Wade’s experience in compressed air and other industries spans decades; from field sales positions through to the corporate presidential office. His sales agency represents a select group of industrial firms. Mr. Wade writes about all facets of compressed air at http://www.about-air-compressors.com.

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