Air Conditioning Semantics are Sometimes Confusing

Air Conditioning and its Implications

When someone speaks of air conditioning to you, what do you assume that the subject is? I believe that in most cases the assumption is that the subject is the cooling device or equipment.  However, that is a much too restrictive assumption.  This is recognized, partially, in the generally accepted acronym of HVAC when making a generic reference to the heating and cooling equipment.  But, this doesn’t recognize the broader activity of controlling our environment.  HVAC actually refers to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, which implies that the term “air conditioning” refers to the cooling equipment or cooling activity.  Air conditioning actually refers to all types of activities that control or modify the condition of the air.  It includes heating, cooling, refrigeration, ventilation, dehumidifying, airborne particle control, etc.  It has been estimated that about 80% of the problems that occur in these systems are electrical.  The remaining 20% occur in the closed system.  In discussion with various repair personnel – air conditioning, television, heating equipment, and various other electrically powered equipment – the solution to non- operating problems has been to merely connect them to the electrical outlet (unplugged appliance), replace a fuse, or reset a circuit breaker.