The main components of any air conditioner are a condenser, compressor, evaporator. Between them laid pipes filled with refrigerant. To maximize the efficiency of the air conditioner, it is necessary to choose the right diameter of pipes on the air conditioner.
Refrigerant movement areas
There are three sections of the lines of movement of freon in the air conditioner:
- Injection. After the air conditioning compressor, the tube delivers freon gas to the condenser;
- Liquid. After the condenser, freon in liquid form is sent to the evaporator;
- Suction. In this section, after the passage of the evaporator, the pressure of freon is low, in the form of gas it moves to the compressor.
Air conditioning compressor pipes are produced seamlessly. When choosing which pipes for the air conditioner are the best, one should take into account pressure losses in different sections of the freon movement.
Losses in the suction area affect the efficiency most of all.
The optimal pipe diameter for air conditioners should provide:
- permitted pressure loss;
- operating speed of the refrigerant. For vertical segments, this is from 5 meters per second;
- lowest noise level.
Since different sections of freon passes under different pressures, the diameter of the pipes on the air conditioners is selected different. \
Copper tubes for air conditioning
The refrigerant line between the inner and outer shells is an air conditioning tube made of copper.
There are a number of reasons for this:
- Even constant contact of copper with freon does not provoke corrosion;
- Copper pipes bend and roll perfectly, they are soft and flexible, which greatly facilitates the installation of the system;
- They tolerate vibration, high pressure and temperature;
- The life of copper pipes is about 100 years.
Air conditioning tubes are made of annealed soft copper, not only very flexible, but also durable. A suitable brand of copper is CU-DPH. This variety is particularly resistant to chemical factors.
Thus, choosing which pipes for the air conditioner is better, you should focus on copper.
Installation of copper pipelines
When mounting a line of copper tubes, it is strictly forbidden to saw them with a hacksaw. Chips caught in the pipeline will damage the compressor. Special tools are used for cutting and bending.
The copper pipe is sold in coils of 25 or 50 meters. The ends are closed with stoppers to prevent debris and dust.
The pipe is easy to transport, as it is much lighter than that made of other metals.
For air conditioners, pipes of the following diameters in inches are most often used: 3 \ 16, 1 \ 4, 5 \ 8, 7 \ 8, 1 \ 8, 3 \ 8, 5 \ 8, 1.8.
