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Planning a Central Vacuum System

You can either hire a central vacuum system installer or do it yourself. But before that you need to figure out the best places for vacuum receptacles for your own convenience ease of installation and cost.

The cost of the system will increase with each additional inlet. Additional inlets also increase the possibility of air leaks and this, in turn, will decrease the vacuum system’s suction capacity. While planning to install a central vacuum system, keep this in mind and try to keep the number of inlets to minimum.

It is recommended to have one or two centrally located inlet receptacles on each story so that every corner of each and every room is within the reach of the vacuum hose which is normally 30 feet in length. The best place for inlets is the base of the interior walls, but they can also be installed in floors if away from foot traffic or foot movement. Floor receptacles should have metal inlet covers so that they are strong enough.

Routing the PVC Tubing of a Central Vacuum System

In a single-story house with a basement or crawlspace, tubing can run under the

floor and stub up a short distance into walls or directly serve floor inlets (by far the easiest method when retrofitting your house). Interior, non- bearing walls not supported by foundations or beams are generally easiest to penetrate from below.

Most of the two-story house has limited access below floors. In this case, tubing must route somewhere else. For e.g., the tubing can run vertically through laundry chutes, behind cabinets, exposed in closet corners, or they can be boxed-in at a room’s corner. Tubing can also run horizontally in an attic and drop down through a wall or into a closet or cabinet. Try to keep the tubing short, straight, and direct without any bend.

Now that you have worked out the best possible inlet locations, make sure they allow the vacuum’s wand to reach every corner and ceiling of the house. Keep in mind the furniture and obstructions. Take all the measurements to be 100% sure.


Planning to Install the Power Unit / Collection Canister of the Central Vacuum System

Plan to put the power unit /collection canister in the basement, utility room, garage, or in a location away from the living areas. Remember that the power unit requires good and proper ventilation for longer life and proper functioning and operation, hence, do not put the unit at a place where temperatures may get hot, such as in a furnace room, small closet, or attic.

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How Refrigerator Works

Refrigerators are a must have kitchen appliance to make your kitchen smart. With advancement of electronics and technology, there has been significant improvement in design, model and features of refrigerators. Today we have all kinds of refrigerators that are safer and convenient.

Today’s refrigerators are frost free and offer all kinds of useful features such as – chilled water and ice in the door, adjustable shelves and trays, and cooling zones. Now there are refrigerators that are small sized to huge models with freezer combination.

Basic Principles of a Refrigerator

Refrigerators and other cooling home appliances such as the air conditioner

Refrigerator

use almost the same basic refrigeration principles (called hermetic system) to extract heat from the air and for cooling.

To remove heat from the air, a compressor, housed in the refrigerator, pushes a refrigerant through copper tubing between two sets of coils called condenser and evaporator.

As the refrigerant moves from condenser to evaporator, it changes from a high-pressure, high-temperature liquid to a low-pressure, low-temperature vapor and liquid. This low pressure cold liquid “boils” in the evaporator coils, absorbing heat from inside the refrigerator and area to be cooled and turns into a cool low-pressure vapor.

This cool vapor is removed from the evaporator by the compressor and is then compressed into a high-temperature, high-pressure vapor and pumped into the condenser. In the condenser, the high-temperature, high-pressure gas gives up its heat as cooling air moves through the condenser coils and then returns to a high-pressure liquid. This cools even more as it moves to the metering device in which it then again becomes a low-pressure, low-temperature gas and liquid to begin the cooling process over again.

We all know that when a liquid boils it absorbs heat. When a vapor cools it releases heat and returns to a liquid state. This physical process is repeated over and over in a refrigerator and keeps it cool.

Modern refrigerators accomplish this quite reliably over the course of their useful life with only simple maintenance (such as cleaning the coils for improved efficiency). And Refrigerator Parts are readily available when repair becomes necessary.

How Does a Refrigerator Works

The basic refrigeration principle of a refrigerator is already discussed above.

Refrigerator Diagram

As explained above, the refrigerant circulates between an evaporator and a condenser in a closed system and maintains the cooling process in a refrigerator.

The refrigerator cabinet or housing is well insulated so that very little heat is absorbed from the outside air and least cold air escapes from inside. Many refrigerators push chilled air into the freezer section from where cold air can passes into the refrigerator. How much air would pass is controlled by a regulator.

Most of the modern refrigerators are frost-free. They have automatic defrosting systems so that you don’t have to take everything out of your refrigerator to melt built-up the ice in the freezer. An automatic defrost system includes a timer, a limit switch, and a heater, which melts away all the frost.

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How Freezer works

When a standard refrigerator in your kitchen doesn’t offer you enough space for your frozen food or do not meet your requirements, you may want to consider buying a separate freezer unit to meet all your needs. Freezers are generally used for more long-term storage of bulk food and seldom-used food items.

Several make and models of freezers are available today. Some freezers are made to match you existing refrigerator and can be installed alongside it in the kitchen. Again, there are chest-type freezers suitable for kitchen with little space. Size, styles and features of freezers may vary from model to model. Freezers are one of those home and kitchen appliances that consume a lot of energy and can increase you monthly electricity bill.

How Freezer Works

In non-technical terms we can say that a freezer removes heat from food

How a Freezer Works

which in turn keeps it cool. Look at the diagram on the right that explains how a freezer works. A freezer is designed to circulate gas from high pressure to low pressure and when gas moves from a high pressure area to a low pressure area, its temperature drops and it gets cool.

As explained in the diagram on the right, a freezer has a compressor and a closed system of tubing that contains a gas (refrigerant). The compressor pumps the refrigerant and compresses it. The refrigerant flows through the coils on the back or under the freezer and through an expansion valve to the inside of the freezer. As the refrigerant passes through the expansion valve the pressure drops and hence the temperature also drops.

A fan inside the freezer circulates air over the cold tubing and the refrigerant absorbs the heat from the freezer’s relatively warmer air. In this process the heat from inside the freezer is pumped out and the freezer remains cool.

Cool air inside the freezer makes water or humidity in the air to condense. This condensed water in the freezer freezes into frost. Most freezers have an automatic defroster that melts the build up of frosts inside the freezer. The defroster is simple a heating element controlled by a defrost timer and a thermostat. Water from the melted frost drains out of the freezer into a pan beneath the freezer and evaporates.


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