07/02/2014
Found this in a article on the web I was reading. Real importance on keeping your A/C Units serviced.
Dirty or FouledIf a condenser becomes dirty or fouled, less heat transfer can take place from the re- frigerant to the surrounding ambient space. Dirty condensers are one of the most frequent service problems in the commercial refrigeration and summer air conditioning fields today. If less heat can be rejected to the surrounding air with an air-cooled condenser, the heat will start to accumulate in the condenser. This accumulation of heat will make the condensing temperature rise.When the condensing temperature rises, there will come a point where the tempera- ture difference between the condensing temperature and the surrounding ambient (ΔT) is great enough to reject heat from the condenser.Remember, temperature difference is the driving potential for heat transfer to take place between anything. The greater the temperature difference, the greater the heat transfer. The condenser is now rejecting enough heat at the elevated ΔT to keep the system running with a dirty condenser. However, the system is now running very inef- ficiently because of the higher condensing temperature and pressure, causing high com- pression ratios.
