What is Superheat and Why is Superheat important to Your Air Conditioning System?

SUPERHEAT assures that the refrigerant leaving the evaporator (coil inside your home) is indeed in a vaporized state. Ideal superheat should be 8 to 12 degrees Fahrenheit - the difference between suction line temperature and the boiling point temperature of the evaporator. Superheat assures that the compressor will not receive a "slug" of liquid refrigerant (liquid refrigerant can damage your compressor - the heart of your AC system and expensive to repair!). The compressor receives vaporized refrigerant and compresses it into a high pressure high temperature state. Once the refrigerant leaves the compressor (traveling through the discharge gas line) it moves to the condenser. Refrigerant within the condenser rejects heat (typically accelerated by a fan). Within the condenser the refrigerant condenses (changes state from high pressure high temperature vapor to high pressure high temperature liquid). Moving through the liquid line the high pressure high temperature liquid should be measured by checking for SUBCOOLING. More talk about subcooling in an upcoming post!