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Today’s cooling system technology offers a number of options that improve energy efficiency and system performance, and in our warm region, the thermal expansion valve (TXV) is one of the best to consider. The valve senses how much cooling your home needs and adjusts the amount of refrigerant the compressor sends inside. It’s one of the best energy-saving features for our long Florida cooling season.  The TXV performs similarly to the gas pedal for your car. When you want to go faster, you push on the pedal harder. The TXV functions the same way. When more cooling is needed, it uses more refrigerant. The compressor is the part inside cooling systems that puts the refrigerant under pressure. The refrigerant temperature gets very cold, which is how it removes the heat from your home’s air as it circulates through the evaporator coil in the air handler.  When the cooling load is lower, the compressor doesn’t send as much refrigerant, which saves electricity. The compressor uses the most energy of all the parts in cooling systems, so when it adjusts automatically, you’ll save electricity. The thermal expansion valve also prolongs the life of your air conditioner or heat pump by:

  • Not using all the refrigerant at one time. Since the refrigerant for central systems is installed on-site, errors can and do occur. A system that doesn’t have enough refrigerant uses more energy to run. Since the TXV doesn’t require all the refrigerant under normal conditions, it manages low refrigerant levels with greater efficiency.
  • Avoiding compressor burnout. Without the adjustable valve, it’s possible for the compressor to send more refrigerant into the evaporator coil than is needed. There won’t be enough heat for the refrigerant to pick up, so some of the refrigerant goes back as a liquid, not a gas. This harms the compressor and can eventually burn it out. 

To learn more about the thermal expansion valve, please contact us at Senica Air Conditioning, Inc.. We provide top-notch HVAC services for Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater area homeowners, and can help you save energy without sacrificing comfort. 

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