How does an air conditioner work?

An air conditioner doesn't make cold. A split AC has an indoor unit with a cold coil and an outdoor unit with a hot one, joined by two copper pipes. A fluid called the refrigerant flows between them, picking heat up inside your room and dumping it outside.

Read how it works: How does an air conditioner work? · The history of air conditioning · More boxes on Glassbox

Chapters in this interactive model

1. Inside a split air conditioner: Two boxes, two copper pipes, and a fluid that carries heat outside.
2. The refrigeration cycle: Squeeze, cool, release, boil, repeat: the loop that pumps heat.
3. Boiling without a flame: Lower the pressure and a liquid boils cold, soaking up heat as it goes.
4. Moving heat for less: An AC moves three or four times more heat than the electricity it uses.
5. Why an AC dries the air: A coil colder than the dew point pulls water out of the air.
6. Thermostats, inverters and heat pumps: Slow down instead of switching off, and run the loop backwards to heat.