Net refrigeration effect (NRE) is the quantity of heat that each pound of the refrigerant absorbs in the refrigerated space to produce useful cooling. That’s a pretty vague definition. We know that it’s an amount of heat in processes that take place within the evaporator. Still, the phrase “useful cooling” seems rather broad. Even though […]

Simply stated, a compressor’s volumetric efficiency (VE) is its ability to pump the most pounds of refrigerant over time. The compressor’s function is right in the name: it compresses vapor refrigerant. After compression, the gas moves to the condenser via the discharge line. From there, the refrigeration cycle continues. However, some of the refrigerant vapor […]

I bought a crappy old house built in the 1920s a few years into my marriage. There were so many things wrong with it. Water intrusion, leaking pipes, roots in the sewer line… on and on. But it was our house, and we loved it. One issue was that the water heater was tiny, and […]