Using Trees To Optimize The Function Of Your Condenser Coils

Condenser coils are just one component of your home's AC system, but you can boost the overall performance of your system by improving the performance of condenser coils. While shade can help to boost condenser coil performance, shade alone is not enough. Once you understand how condenser coils work, you will know how you can use trees to boost the function of your coils. 

Shade and Condenser Coils

When exposed to direct sunlight, condenser coils will absorb the sun's energy and heat up. Because the sole purpose of condenser coils is to cool the refrigerant running through them, using shade to block the sun's rays will help your condenser coils do their job better. The most conservative estimates suggest that shading your coils will improve coil function by about 3%. While a 3% gain in AC efficiency is barely enough to worry about, trees can boost coil function in a second way. 

Evapotranspiration and Condenser Coils

Condenser coils depend on airflow to cool the refrigerant running through them. Thus, shade will help to keep your coils cool, but if your coils only have hot air available to them, they will still struggle to cool the refrigerant. If you simply build a wall or a roof to shade your coils from the sun, you do nothing to keep the surrounding air cool, and your wall may even block airflow. Trees, on the other hand, can cool air. They do this through a process known as evapotranspiration. While you do not have to know the science behind this cooling, it may help to know that as trees cool air, it will settle into your yard and reduce air temperatures by as much as 25%. For the best results, you don't want to plant just one tree to shade your coils. Instead, you should plant several trees around your condenser coils so that you have a large volume of cooled air available for your condenser coils to push over the refrigerant running through them. 

Some people think that it is cooler beneath trees because trees provide shade. They then decide it is easier to just build a wall or other structure to keep condenser coils cool. Trees are mother nature's AC unit, and they actively cool the air around them by releasing water vapor into the air, which vapor absorbs heat from the air. Thus, if you truly want to boost the function of your condenser coils, don't just build a shade structure, plant trees. 

To learn more, contact a company like Advanced Heating & Cooling.

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