- Air conditioners cool building interiors by injecting chilled air into the building to lower ambient air temperatures. The air is typically cooled in a central location, hence the name central air, and distributed to the various parts of the building by a system of ducts. Ducts are either supply ducts that carry the chilled air or return ducts that carry ambient air.
- Supply ducts distribute chilled air from the air handler unit to the individual vents located throughout a building. Larger diameter ducts, usually 12 inches or greater, known as trunk lines, carry the air to different sections of a building, and smaller diameter ducts carry air from the trunk line to the different air supply vents. Ducts are insulated to prevent the chilled air from heating during transport to the vents.
- Return ducts serve as regulators for the air conditioner. They carry air from the rooms back to the thermostat, which detects the temperature of the air. If the air is below the temperature selected on the thermostat, the air conditioner cycles off.
- A blower unit located in the air conditioner forces chilled air into the duct work. As the chilled air enters the room and mixes with the ambient air, it forces ambient air into the return ducts and back to the register.
- Some air conditioning systems use dampers in the supply and return ducts to create zones that vary the air flow to different parts of the home. A computer in the air conditioner controls the dampers by partially opening or shutting them, effectively allowing one unit to maintain different temperatures in different areas of a building. Before the use of these dampers, the only way to achieve this was through the use of more than one air conditioner unit.
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