AC Condenser: Its Role in the Car's Cooling System

An AC condenser plays a vital part in your car's air conditioning. It is not the air conditioner but a part of the system. Most people usually have this mistake when it comes to buying car parts or even maintaining it. They sometimes purchase the whole system instead of just the condenser! So what is a condenser?

Condenser works with other car parts to support the air conditioning system. We can therefore say that this part is actually a team player. Other air conditioning parts are compressor, evaporator, expansion valve, and accumulator. An AC condenser looks like a radiator's smaller version. This can be found at the front of the car next to the radiator. At times it has its own cooling system.

The air conditioning system and how a condenser works

To understand further how a condenser works, you need to know first how the whole cooling system does its job.

It all starts with refrigerants. These refrigerants are vacuumed in by the compressor which later on pressurizes it to become hot. After this step, the heated gas then passes the condenser which turns cooler. As it cools, it turns into liquid. Once this process is done, the expansion valve regulates the flow of the cold refrigerants so the coldness of the conditioning system is manageable. When cold air is comes out, the liquid refrigerants turn into gas again thanks to the evaporator. As this process ends, the whole cycle starts again with the air being filtered before being vacuumed again.

A condenser can never work on its own. In order to product the coolness you want, it should work well with other air conditioning parts. For it to perform well, proper maintenance is a must. Check if it has accumulated too much dirt both inside and out. It is a must to always clean the AC condenser to keep it performing at its best.

Fixing the car condenser

To always make sure that your car condenser is always performing at its best, cleaning it is not enough. You also need to check if there's a need to repair it.

Familiarizing yourself with the air conditioning process and parts will help out more in checking for corrosion or damages. While air conditioners may still work after years since the car was first bought, you need to remember that its parts are also prey to rust and dirt. You need to check the condenser tubes for corrosion although evaporators are usually the victim of such a problem. You can do this by using a testing sensor. In addition you need to check the motor or fan if it's working well. If it's not then better replace it immediately before bigger air conditioning problems occur. Better check for stores that sell quality ac condensers-one that doesn't easily rust and works well for a long time.