Does air conditioning use gas?: Get Expert Answers to Your Question

So, you are wondering, “does air conditioning use gas or electricity?” There are several reasons people ask this question.

Perhaps the unit has stopped functioning, and you’re not sure what type of professional to call. Perhaps you are looking at your utility bill and trying to figure out why it’s higher than you expect. Sometimes, people smell the distinctive “rotten egg” smell of gas and are trying to figure out why. (Important: If you smell gas in your home, leave the building now and call your utility company from a safe distance or a neighbor’s house.)

In one way, the answer to this question is very simple: all air conditioners run on electricity. In another way, however, the answer is very complicated because people don’t always mean the same thing when they say “air conditioning.”

How an Air Conditioner Works

First, let’s talk a little bit about how an air conditioner works.

An air conditioner takes advantage of the properties of certain chemicals, called refrigerants, that can easily condense and evaporate with changes in pressure. These changes allow the liquid to change temperature, dropping in one part of the cycle to absorb heat from the room you’re cooling, then getting hotter to radiate off the heat it’s absorbed.

Here’s how it works in detail. A compressor pressurizes the refrigerant. The increase in pressure turns the refrigerant into a dense gas packed with heat. The heat radiates away from the condenser coils, and this causes the gas to condense into a liquid. The liquid then passes through an expansion valve that drops the liquid’s pressure.

When that happens, the temperature of the liquid drops, too. This makes the coils cold. A fan blows air over these coils, and the air cools. The refrigerant warms and evaporates. It enters the compressor, and the cycle starts again.

All the components in this air conditioner are powered by electricity. There are no gas-powered air conditioner units.

Explaining the Confusion: Does Air Conditioning Use Gas?

Despite what we said above, if you do an Internet search on this question, you will find websites and articles that talk about “gas-powered air conditioning.”

This isn’t a contradiction of what we’ve said above – the only gas involved in an air conditioner is the refrigerant, which isn’t a power source. Instead, it creates confusion about what we mean when we say air conditioning.

Air Conditioner vs. “Air Conditioning”

In general, when people talk about an air conditioner or an AC unit, they are referring to the kind of heat exchange system using a refrigerant, which we talked about above. However, sometimes people use the term “air conditioning” more generally.

“Air conditioning” could mean any technique that makes the air more comfortable for us. This could be cooling air with a portable evaporative cooling unit or chemical refrigerant and combustion fuel options, including cooling hot air with an air conditioner or warming cold air with a furnace. A furnace is usually a unit that combusts gas or fuel oil to heat air in your home, though it could also have electric heat coils. Lets discuss the latter two options first.

This air is then forced through ducts to reach other parts of the house. This means that while there are no gas-powered air conditioners, you could talk about gas-powered air conditioning and still be accurate.

“Central Air” vs. “Central AC” vs. “Central Heat”

Another way that the terms get confused is when we talk about “central air,” “central air conditioning,” or “central AC.” Often, central air refers to the kind of forced-air heating with a furnace we talked about above.

Central air might be powered by electricity, gas, and/or fuel oil. This is also sometimes called “central heat,” to be more precise.

On the other hand, when people refer to central air conditioning or central AC, they are talking about a refrigerant system where the air is cooled in a central location, then pushed through the house using the same ducts as the heating system.

You can see how it’s very easy for a person to abbreviate central air conditioning to central air, creating confusion between central heating and cooling systems.

Recharging Gas in AC Units

Another possible source of confusion is when people talk about “recharging” the gas in an AC unit.

The phrasing used can make people think that the AC unit is powered by gas. However, “recharging the gas” refers to making sure the AC unit has enough refrigerant to cool what it’s supposed to cool adequately.

Modern AC units are supposed to be sealed so the gas can’t escape. The gas is toxic, and it’s bad for the environment, so we want to keep it contained. Not only that, but a gas recharge can be expensive.

If an AC unit needs a recharge, it will also need repairs to stop the leak. In some cases, this might mean it’s time to replace the AC unit altogether.

As you can see, the answer to does air conditioning use gas is not quite as simple as “no,” nor is it truly “yes.” There are gasses involved in many forms of air cooling, though none of those gases directly power the units for cooling. Evaporative cooling, however, uses none.

Evaporative Coolers Use Electricity and Clean Water

Unlike those chemical or combustion units above, evaporative coolers do not use refrigerant gases and run on clean electricity.

They function simply by evaporating water, which takes heat from the air. This is more efficient because it doesn’t require a power-consuming compressor; all it needs to work effectively is an efficient pump and a fan.

It also means that evaporative coolers don’t contain toxic gases, or use gas. There’s no worry about the gas leaking out and either harming you or leading to environmental damage.

There’s also no concern about what to do with gas when the evaporative cooler needs to be replaced.

Have Questions About Air Conditioning?

Since 1990, Portacool has been making evaporative coolers at our Center, Texas manufacturing facility. Now, our Portacool APEX Evaporative Coolers and many legacy models are sold in all 50 states and 54 countries around the world.

We have become a recognized leader in the industry, which means we’ve studied all cooling options available, including air conditioning. We also know what situations are best for each kind of option, and no, it’s not always evaporative cooling.

If you have questions about what is the best cooling solution for your setting, please contact us today.