Any HVAC experts?

[herby]

Basically I am trying to find out how central Air works. I know there's an intake and exhaust. What happens to the exhaust does it go through the central air unit and the air just cooled and recirculated or does it actually exhaust to the outside?

Next question is about the carbon scrubber. Its the largest one I could find and also got a fan thats like 750 CFM. I swear if I hooked it up to my back it would lift me 3 ft off the ground. Anyway, the plan was just to scrub the air continuously and then let the Central air cool things in the room.
Will be running 4000 watts, not air cooled but we also have 11ft ceilings so the warm air has a large place to hang out in there. I think each light puts out like 3500 btu's so thats 14k btu total. The unit that was installed last year will also put frost on the windows in the summer time even with temps in the 90's so the units pretty tight. If it turns out there is still some heat buildup I can add another fan in the ceiling to exhaust some of the heat but then I may have issues because I will also need an intake I think so that may create a whole different set of problems.

Anyone with some experience with this?

 

[hubcap]

Designed for cooling the entire house, central air conditioners are located outdoors. They consist of a large refrigerant compressor and condensing coils unit joined by copper tubing refrigerant lines to an indoor coil mounted in the furnace. The same ducts are used for distribution of both heated and cooled air. This is known as a “split system”. In a “packaged system”, all the components are located outside the house in a single unit. In both types, an additional component called a thermostat is used to control the level of cooling in continuous feedback loop.

A central AC works by using energy to subtract heat away from the air. The most widespread type uses a compressor cycle, like a refrigerator does, in order to transfer heat from the house to the outdoors. Employing specialized fluid called refrigerant, heat is absorbed and then released when the refrigerant transforms back and forth between a gas and liquid state. As it changes to a liquid from a gas, it releases heat; when changing back from liquid to gas, it absorbs heat.

Mechanics

A refrigerant compressor is a mechanism which pumps the liquid refrigerant through an expansion valve, altering the liquid to a mixture of low-pressure liquid and gas. In the indoor evaporator coil located in the furnace, the rest of the liquid soaks up heat from interior air like a sponge, in the process becoming a low-temperature gas.

This low-temperature gas is then compressed by a compressor which reduces its volume, increases its temperature and causes it to become a high-temperature, high-pressure vapor. The resulting vapor is driven to the outdoor coil or condenser, and its heat is therefore transmitted to the outdoor air. The outdoor air temperature essentially makes the refrigerant condense into a liquid. The liquid goes back to the expansion phase compressor and the cycle begins all over.

How does this work? Interior air is dehumidified and cooled as it passes over the indoor coil. Humidity removed from the air, as it makes contact with the indoor coil, is collected in a pan at the bottom of the coil and sent to a drainage line.

Pros and Cons

Central air conditioning has numerous advantages over many smaller disbursed units:

• When the air handling unit turns on, the interior air is drawn in from various parts of the house through return-air ducts. This air is pulled through a filter where airborne particles, like dust and lint are filtered out. Some better filters may remove microscopic pollutants as well. The filtered air is sent to air supply ducting and back to interior rooms. When the ac is running, the process repeats continually.
• Because the central ac's heat exchange fan and compressor is located outside the home, it usually offers a lower level of noise indoors than window or through-the-wall air conditioning units. In such units the heat exchange fluid (refrigerant) is piped under pressure to an indoor heat exchanger through which building air is circulated. This indoor heat exchanger is typically fitted with a condensate collection device and disposal system, as in cooling mode a significant amount of water can condense from the indoor air. In heating mode condensate is collected by the outdoor heat exchanger, which is typically monitored for icing up, and is usually fitted with an evaporation pan.

One possible disadvantage to central ac is that the air ductwork does become dirty over time, and poses a risk of growth and spread of harmful microorganisms, mold and mildew. Early models of air conditioners used freon as the regrigerant fluid, however, because of the harmful effects freon has on our environment, it has been phased out.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

You can burn some sulfur that would take care of ducting problems.I will have to edit here and say I did not realize this was not a dedicated to your grow room.So forget the sulfur. Using a variable speed air handler will help a lot with humidity. Scrool compressors are nice and quiet. We still use freon in the US. JK

 

[Nuglover]

Designed for cooling the entire house, central air conditioners are located outdoors. They consist of a large refrigerant compressor and condensing coils unit joined by copper tubing refrigerant lines to an indoor coil mounted in the furnace. The same ducts are used for distribution of both heated and cooled air. This is known as a “split system”. In a “packaged system”, all the components are located outside the house in a single unit. In both types, an additional component called a thermostat is used to control the level of cooling in continuous feedback loop.

A central AC works by using energy to subtract heat away from the air. The most widespread type uses a compressor cycle, like a refrigerator does, in order to transfer heat from the house to the outdoors. Employing specialized fluid called refrigerant, heat is absorbed and then released when the refrigerant transforms back and forth between a gas and liquid state. As it changes to a liquid from a gas, it releases heat; when changing back from liquid to gas, it absorbs heat.

Mechanics

A refrigerant compressor is a mechanism which pumps the liquid refrigerant through an expansion valve, altering the liquid to a mixture of low-pressure liquid and gas. In the indoor evaporator coil located in the furnace, the rest of the liquid soaks up heat from interior air like a sponge, in the process becoming a low-temperature gas.

This low-temperature gas is then compressed by a compressor which reduces its volume, increases its temperature and causes it to become a high-temperature, high-pressure vapor. The resulting vapor is driven to the outdoor coil or condenser, and its heat is therefore transmitted to the outdoor air. The outdoor air temperature essentially makes the refrigerant condense into a liquid. The liquid goes back to the expansion phase compressor and the cycle begins all over.

How does this work? Interior air is dehumidified and cooled as it passes over the indoor coil. Humidity removed from the air, as it makes contact with the indoor coil, is collected in a pan at the bottom of the coil and sent to a drainage line.

Pros and Cons

Central air conditioning has numerous advantages over many smaller disbursed units:

• When the air handling unit turns on, the interior air is drawn in from various parts of the house through return-air ducts. This air is pulled through a filter where airborne particles, like dust and lint are filtered out. Some better filters may remove microscopic pollutants as well. The filtered air is sent to air supply ducting and back to interior rooms. When the ac is running, the process repeats continually.
• Because the central ac's heat exchange fan and compressor is located outside the home, it usually offers a lower level of noise indoors than window or through-the-wall air conditioning units. In such units the heat exchange fluid (refrigerant) is piped under pressure to an indoor heat exchanger through which building air is circulated. This indoor heat exchanger is typically fitted with a condensate collection device and disposal system, as in cooling mode a significant amount of water can condense from the indoor air. In heating mode condensate is collected by the outdoor heat exchanger, which is typically monitored for icing up, and is usually fitted with an evaporation pan.

One possible disadvantage to central ac is that the air ductwork does become dirty over time, and poses a risk of growth and spread of harmful microorganisms, mold and mildew. Early models of air conditioners used freon as the regrigerant fluid, however, because of the harmful effects freon has on our environment, it has been phased out.

Very detailed Hubcap. Did you used to do HVAC work too?(few yrs myself) That explains it pretty damn well.

 

[herby]

Thanks for all the info!!!! good read.

 

[hubcap]

Very detailed Hubcap. Did you used to do HVAC work too?(few yrs myself) That explains it pretty damn well.

no.
i cut and pasted from google.
it was easier than typing a simple decription and i felt it explained it better than i could have, in lameman's terms.

lol

 

[SenorMota]

no.
i cut and pasted from google.
it was easier than typing a simple decription and i felt it explained it better than i could have, in lameman's terms.

lol

:handshake

 

[Dr.stickerdick]

Hubcap you get my kudos for your honesty! I was reading your explaination thinking it was extemporaneous as it was right on then suprised at the end . Good work.

 

[hubcap]

good doctor, farmer stickerdick..
i do talk alot, im the first to admit it..
but theres plenty of BS on 'other sites' shall we say?
no need for it here. bs is for pastures.
anyways..
here, i tend to help the newer growers out. the tried and true dudes have methods and routines that work for them. they dont need my help...
i try to give a good overall picture to the newer farmers, because, i feel, in the overall picture of things, it makes them better. (and some dont have the patience answering the FAQs before farmers read them.........so i feel its my way of paying dues to the site and to return the favor once given to me. but, i digress..)

my approach?
newer farmers are kinda forced to take in all the possible solutions and then pick what would work best for them in their set up. 'what works for me, might not for you,' theory applies here. in the long run, this method, i feel makes a better farmer cuz they have the 'big picture' instead of what works for you or I. i admit, it does get a lil tiresome answering the same questions, but, cmon, you had em too at one point. me too...and i didnt have the web, or THCFARMER to help.

farmer senormota...
thats the exact text i stole. nice work! lol

 

[herby]

Ok next question, the central ac I have has only 1 zone or main controller. Is it possible to add another zone to the existing system or would the entire system need to be replaced with a system that can have multiple zones? I imagine a system with multiple zones must have some sort of automatic dampers so one room can be 72 and another 76?

The problem I have now is theres a 20 degree difference between the growroom and the rest of the house.