what is the difference between an air handler and an air conditioner

Air handlers and air conditioners

have entirely different functions, making it easy to remember the difference between them. Air handlers are designed to move air around. That’s all that they do. They don’t heat up or cool down, they move air. Air conditioners, on the other hand, exist only to cool air by removing heat from the outdoor air.

Full Answer

Is an air handler the same as an air conditioner?

The air handler contains a blower motor, that moves conditioned air into the home. It also contains an indoor coil that aids in the cooling process. Air handlers can be used with air conditioners or heat pumps to keep homes cool. To create an efficient, high performing cooling system, the air handler and air conditioner should be matched.

Does an air handler and condenser have to match?

The answer is yes, but with some caveats. You have to make sure the units you have match appropriately. You can't just go to a store and buy the first condenser you see and match it with the air handler in your house. They might work together. They might not. A good start would be to make sure that the brands are matched.

What are the alternatives to air conditioners?

More Alternatives to Window AC Units

• Spot Cooler. One alternative is a small spot cooler for cooling down your personal space. ...
• Ductless Mini Split System. If you want some more power out of an air conditioner, a ductless mini split system might just be your best alternative to window AC units.
• Floor Fans. ...
• Ceiling Fans. ...
• Chilling Pads. ...

How much does replacing an air handler cost?

Your current system can limit your options at times. If you’d like to install a variable-speed air conditioner, you may need to replace your furnace or air handler as well in some cases. Replacing a furnace or air handler typically costs anywhere from $3,300-$7,025.

What is an Air Handler?

An air handler contains the components that move the air throughout your home, called the blower. It is usually set inside the home and operates with both the heating and cooling components of your HVAC system. If you take a quick glance at an air handler, it might closely resemble a furnace. Air handlers can work with an air conditioner and houses the indoor coil, used to cool and heat your home depending on which system it’s running with.

How does an air handler work?

Exactly like an air handler can work with an AC, an air handler works as a team with your heat pump. Heat pumps are used to control your comfort by transferring heat, rather than producing it, and the air handler assists in moving all that heated or cooled air.

How does a furnace work?

Instead of an air handler, furnaces have built in blowers that move the warmed air into your ventilation and disperse throughout your home. Since furnaces have combustion chambers and create heat, they don't have some of the parts you'll find in a typical air handler.

How does a refrigerant coil work?

The warm air inside your home is drawn into the system through return ducts and then go over a refrigerant coil. As the warm air is blown across the cooled coil, heat is removed. Refrigerant lines then send the heat outside. Now you’re left with cool, comfortable indoor air that you can enjoy on the hottest of days.

How to contact Service Experts about air conditioner?

If you’d like more information about your current system and whether an air handler or air conditioner is right for your home, give the pros at Service Experts a call at 866-397-3787 or set up a free appointment online today.

Do air conditioners work outside?

Air conditioners contain the condenser and are traditionally set outside the home. One of the most common confusions with air conditioners is that they cool the existing air in your home. Air conditioners actually pull out heat from inside your home through a host of pieces in your system and expel it outside.

Is an air handler a blower?

Air handlers are not blowers. This puzzles some of our customers, but it's not too complex and we're happy to explain the difference. An air handler includes the blower, and several other parts in the unit. You may have dampers, filters, mixing chambers and more in an air handler. The blower is just one part of a greater whole.

What is an air handler?

An air handler has components that are used to move the air throughout your home. This is known as the blower, and it is located inside your home. The blower can operate with both the cooling and heating components of your HVAC system. The air handler looks like a furnace, but it acts differently in operation. The air handler can run with either a heat pump or an air conditioner. It contains an indoor coil that is used to heat or cool your home depending on which system it is being used with.

How does an air conditioner work?

This isn’t correct, the AC system actually removes heat from your home and deposits it outside making your home cooler. The air conditioner acts like a circulatory system, picking up the warm air, moving it outside and repeating the process over and over until it’s turned off. The blood in this analogy would be the refrigerant that absorbs the warm air as it passes over the refrigerant coil. The refrigerant then circulates through the lines carrying the absorbed heat outside and returns to repeat the process again.

Do you need to understand an air handler?

As you can see, there are significant differences in the way that air conditioners and air handlers work. It may be the case that you never even need to understand the air handler in any real detail unless you have a specific need to use an electric heat pump.

How does an air handler work?

An air handler will usually connect via the ductwork that is used to disperse the conditioned air and circulate it back through the system. Once it is circulated through the building and ductwork it will return to the AHU. Smaller air handlers are also used, they’re known as terminal units, they most likely only have an air filter, coil and blower.

What is a small air handler?

Smaller air handlers are also used, they’re known as terminal units, they most likely only have an air filter, coil and blower. These units which are smaller, may also be referred to as blower coils, or fan oil units. Bigger air handlers, which are used to condition 100% of the outside air, and use zero re-circulated air, are known as a makeup air unit or MAU. There is also the rooftop unit, which as the name implies, is an air handler found on a rooftop.

What is an AHU?

AN AHU is a component that has the purpose of conditioning and circulating air. Air handlers are part of the entire HVAC system and made up of several components themselves. Components that compose up an air handler are the blower, heating and cooling elements, filter racks and chambers, sound attenuators, as well as dampers.

What is an HVAC system?

An HVAC system is composed of several different elements. Today, we’ll explain to you what all those different elements are and how they help to heat or cool your home or office. An AC unit or air conditioner is designed to dehumidify and cool down an area by removing heat.

What is the condenser in an AC unit?

AC units use a condenser, a component of basic refrigeration systems that effectively removes heat from the air that is circulated through the system. The condenser is used in the heated side of an air conditioner.

How does a chiller work?

The chiller, a chiller is used to remove heat from a liquid by the process of vapor-compression or absorption refrigeration cycle. The chilled liquid flows through pipes of a building and passes through the coils, fan-coil units, air handlers and other parts of the system.

What is an Air Handler?

In an air heating and conditioning system, the air handler is the indoor component that has the components to move the air throughout the home. The air handler contains the evaporator coil, the blower, the air filter, and other safety components. The evaporator coil consists of tubing that contains the refrigerant and connects the evaporator coil inside the air handler to the outdoor unit. The blower is the main component of the air handler that physically moves either air over the evaporator coil, or through the furnace, to supply treated air throughout the home. The air filter ensures that all air that enters the home is filtered from debris in the air.

What is an Air Conditioner?

Apart from what most people believe, the air conditioner is the condensing unit that is placed outside of the home. The air conditioner does not blow cold air into the home. Instead, it removes heat from the home by supplying compressed refrigerant, formally the very well known chemical Freon, to the evaporator coil, which removes the heat from the air and returns the now cool air in the home.

What is an air handler?

An air handler is a part of any ducted HVAC system. Simply put, it is what moves the air throughout the system and your home. Sometimes what someone will refer to as your furnace is, in fact, an air handler with separate electric furnace components installed with it. Functionally speaking, you don’t always need to know the difference, ...

What HVAC system does not have an air handler?

The only HVAC systems that lack an air handler are ductless mini-split systems. These ductless systems are becoming much more common in situations like the attic example above, where you need a cooling and/or heating option for a small space. RELATED: Ductless Mini-Splits vs. Central Air: Pros and Cons.

What is the difference between an air conditioner and a heat pump?

Difference Between an Air Conditioner and a Heat Pump. The short answer is that air conditioners only cool, but heat pumps can both heat and cool. Both absorb and transfer heat. Heat pumps simply have a reverse setting, where they absorb heat from outside and transfer it inside. Adding to some homeowners’ confusion is that an A/C unit ...

What is the difference between a heat pump and a furnace?

Difference Between a Heat Pump and a Furnace. Much like an air conditioner only cools, a furnace only heats, while a heat pump can both heat and cool. Additionally, heat pumps work by absorbing heat either from the home or from the outside and transferring it to the opposite location. Furnaces generate heat in and of themselves, ...

How do air conditioners and heat pumps work?

To cool, heat is absorbed by the indoor evaporator cool and transferred to the outdoor unit, where it is emitted.

Why do heat pumps work with electric furnaces?

Heat pumps are commonly paired with electric furnaces due to the overlap in technology. A heat pump will provide some heating benefit, which is supplemented by the furnace's heat. By working in tandem at varying levels depending on the temperature setting, the two can provide very efficient heating for a home.

What are the advantages of HVAC?

Well, sort of. The different technology underlying different types of equipment can make a difference for you. The potential advantages fall into two main categories: 1 Efficiency - Some systems will operate more efficiently than others, providing you better comfort. Importantly, the most efficient system for one home might not be the best for another. This can be due to where you live, but also what other HVAC equipment you have, since many A/C units, heat pumps, furnaces, and air handlers are designed to work better together. 2 Cost - There are initial cost differences to different equipment types, and also differences in your energy bills if the equipment is properly functioning in tandem. Cost can also increase if you’re switching equipment types (electric to gas furnace, for example), since your home may need new lines to properly fuel the system.

What Is an Air Handler?

In its most straightforward definition, the air handler works with the heating and cooling unit to deliver controlled climate air throughout your home. It’s a system used locally with your current heating and cooling system. Installation typically occurs in well-ventilated areas, or areas without condensation or humidity in your home.

The Different Types of Air Handlers

Different types of air handlers are available with varying features depending on what your HVAC system needs.

When Should I Replace My Air Handler?

Older components of central air systems simply do not perform as well as newer ones. Over time, air handlers lose effectiveness, and older models do not have the advanced technology newer ones do. Older units are less effective to filter out contaminants, reduce noise and generate superior cooling performance.

Quality Atlanta Air Handler Service

Now that you understand what an air handler does, you see the importance of this key HVAC equipment. Don’t risk the efficiency of your central heating and air system with the wrong unit .

What is an air handler?

Air Handlers. An air handler, or air handling unit, is used to condition and circulate air as part of an HVAC system. An air handler usually contains a blower, heating or cooling elements, filter racks or chambers, sound attenuators, and dampers.

What is the difference between an air conditioner and a condenser?

A condenser is a component of the basic refrigeration cycle that removes heat from the system. The condenser is the hot side of an air conditioner. Condensers are heat exchangers that can transfer heat to air ...

What is an air cooled chiller?

Air-cooled chillers are usually outside and consist of condenser coils cooled by fan-driven air. Water-cooled chiller are usually inside a building, and heat from these chillers is carried by re-circulating water to a heat sink such as an outdoor cooling tower.

How does a chiller work?

A chiller removes heat from a liquid through a vapor-compression or absorption refrigeration cycle. This cooled liquid flows through pipes in a building and passes through coils in air handlers and fan-coil units cooling and dehumidifying the air in the building. There are two types of chillers – air-cooled or water-cooled.

What is an air handler?

The air handler is the component that circulates air inside your home. It’s typically found indoors, either in a closet or attic. An air handler’s basic components are an air filter, a blower and a coil. The internal blower moves air through the evaporator coil and transfers it throughout the building via ductwork.

What is the main function of an air conditioner?

A condenser’s major components are a compressor and a condenser coil. Instead of blowing conditioned air throughout the home like the air handler does, an air conditioner’s main function is to remove heat from within the home.

How does a condensing unit work?

The condensing unit’s job is basically to transfer heat from the air outside of the building by compressing refrigerant and pumping it through its condenser coils.

Does the warranty on an air handler expire?

So if you only replace your condenser unit, your air handler’s warranty may expire before it. And some manufacturers may not extend full warranty coverage to equipment that doesn’t match.

Is HVAC more efficient than ever before?

New HVAC systems are more efficient and affordable than ever before. Knowing what the best equipment to buy for your needs is the biggest challenge. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. Videos you watch may be added to the TV's watch history and influence TV recommendations.

Do air handlers and condensers work better together?

Simply put, the air handler and the condenser are a team. And they work better together if they were built for each other. So if you’re going to replace one, replace the other as well. It will save you money in the long run and you will avoid some major headaches. New HVAC systems are more efficient and affordable than ever before. Knowing what the best equipment to buy for your needs is the biggest challenge.

Why are air conditioners better than air coolers?

Air coolers come in handy for cost minimization, energy-saving, use flexibility, and environmental integrity. However, air conditioners are the ideal choice for effective cooling in the long run.

Which is more complex, an air conditioner or an air cooler?

Of the two air cooling appliances, the air conditioner has a more complex working principle than the air cooler.

How does an air cooler work?

An air cooler applies the evaporative principle to remove heat from surrounding air with water-absorbent pads. The motor in air coolers blows hot water near the absorbent pads for the cooling effect. A fan in the appliance then blows the cool air out into the circulation. For cooler air, you can use the appliance with ice cubes.

What is the difference between an air conditioner and an evaporator?

On the other hand, air conditioners use a refrigerant and chemical coolant to cool the hot air. The compressor in the evaporative unit absorbs the hot air, and the evaporator coil draws the heat from the air with the refrigerant.

Why are air coolers banned?

Since air coolers only need water and motor for operation, they are safer for your health and the environment.

Can you use ice cubes in an air conditioner?

For cooler air, you can use the appliance with ice cubes. Since air coolers add moisture to the air when cooling, they are suitable for dry climates. On the other hand, air conditioners use a refrigerant and chemical coolant to cool the hot air.

Do portable air coolers need to be installed?

Portable air coolers come with zero installation requirements. All you have to do is set the appliance up in your space, and the cooling begins. Most models have castors for convenient portability from one place to the next. So, you can readily plug in and out the air cooler as per your needs.