How Aging Components Affect Air Conditioner Lifespan

There are various types of air conditioners. Popular examples include: Window-mounted air conditioner (Suriname, 1955); Ceiling-mounted cassette air conditioner (China, 2023); Wall-mounted air conditioner (Japan, 2020); Ceiling-mounted console (Also called ceiling suspended) air conditioner (China, 2023); and portable air conditioner (Vatican City, 2018).

Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK),^[1] is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature and in some cases also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air conditioning can be achieved using a mechanical 'air conditioner' or by other methods, including passive cooling and ventilative cooling.^[2][3] Air conditioning is a member of a family of systems and techniques that provide heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC).^[4] Heat pumps are similar in many ways to air conditioners, but use a reversing valve to allow them both to heat and to cool an enclosed space.^[5]

Air conditioners, which typically use vapor-compression refrigeration, range in size from small units used in vehicles or single rooms to massive units that can cool large buildings.^[6] Air source heat pumps, which can be used for heating as well as cooling, are becoming increasingly common in cooler climates.

Air conditioners can reduce mortality rates due to higher temperature.^[7] According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) 1.6 billion air conditioning units were used globally in 2016.^[8] The United Nations called for the technology to be made more sustainable to mitigate climate change and for the use of alternatives, like passive cooling, evaporative cooling, selective shading, windcatchers, and better thermal insulation.

Air conditioning dates back to prehistory.^[9] Double-walled living quarters, with a gap between the two walls to encourage air flow, were found in the ancient city of Hamoukar, in modern Syria.^[10] Ancient Egyptian buildings also used a wide variety of passive air-conditioning techniques.^[11] These became widespread from the Iberian Peninsula through North Africa, the Middle East, and Northern India.^[12]

Passive techniques remained widespread until the 20th century when they fell out of fashion and were replaced by powered air conditioning. Using information from engineering studies of traditional buildings, passive techniques are being revived and modified for 21st-century architectural designs.^[13][12]

Air conditioners allow the building's indoor environment to remain relatively constant, largely independent of changes in external weather conditions and internal heat loads. They also enable deep plan buildings to be created and have allowed people to live comfortably in hotter parts of the world.^[14]

In 1558, Giambattista della Porta described a method of chilling ice to temperatures far below its freezing point by mixing it with potassium nitrate (then called "nitre") in his popular science book Natural Magic.^[15][16][17] In 1620, Cornelis Drebbel demonstrated "Turning Summer into Winter" for James I of England, chilling part of the Great Hall of Westminster Abbey with an apparatus of troughs and vats.^[18] Drebbel's contemporary Francis Bacon, like della Porta a believer in science communication, may not have been present at the demonstration, but in a book published later the same year, he described it as "experiment of artificial freezing" and said that "Nitre (or rather its spirit) is very cold, and hence nitre or salt when added to snow or ice intensifies the cold of the latter, the nitre by adding to its cold, but the salt by supplying activity to the cold of the snow."^[15]

In 1758, Benjamin Franklin and John Hadley, a chemistry professor at the University of Cambridge, conducted experiments applying the principle of evaporation as a means to cool an object rapidly. Franklin and Hadley confirmed that the evaporation of highly volatile liquids (such as alcohol and ether) could be used to drive down the temperature of an object past the freezing point of water. They experimented with the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermometer as their object. They used a bellows to speed up the evaporation. They lowered the temperature of the thermometer bulb down to −14 °C (7 °F) while the ambient temperature was 18 °C (64 °F). Franklin noted that soon after they passed the freezing point of water 0 °C (32 °F), a thin film of ice formed on the surface of the thermometer's bulb and that the ice mass was about 6 mm (1⁄4 in) thick when they stopped the experiment upon reaching −14 °C (7 °F). Franklin concluded: "From this experiment, one may see the possibility of freezing a man to death on a warm summer's day."^[19]

The 19th century included many developments in compression technology. In 1820, English scientist and inventor Michael Faraday discovered that compressing and liquefying ammonia could chill air when the liquefied ammonia was allowed to evaporate.^[20] In 1842, Florida physician John Gorrie used compressor technology to create ice, which he used to cool air for his patients in his hospital in Apalachicola, Florida. He hoped to eventually use his ice-making machine to regulate the temperature of buildings.^[20][21] He envisioned centralized air conditioning that could cool entire cities. Gorrie was granted a patent in 1851,^[22] but following the death of his main backer, he was not able to realize his invention.^[23] In 1851, James Harrison created the first mechanical ice-making machine in Geelong, Australia, and was granted a patent for an ether vapor-compression refrigeration system in 1855 that produced three tons of ice per day.^[24] In 1860, Harrison established a second ice company. He later entered the debate over competing against the American advantage of ice-refrigerated beef sales to the United Kingdom.^[24]

Electricity made the development of effective units possible. In 1901, American inventor Willis H. Carrier built what is considered the first modern electrical air conditioning unit.^{[25][26][27][28]} In 1902, he installed his first air-conditioning system, in the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing & Publishing Company in Brooklyn, New York.^[29] His invention controlled both the temperature and humidity, which helped maintain consistent paper dimensions and ink alignment at the printing plant. Later, together with six other employees, Carrier formed The Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America, a business that in 2020 employed 53,000 people and was valued at $18.6 billion.^[30][31]

In 1906, Stuart W. Cramer of Charlotte, North Carolina, was exploring ways to add moisture to the air in his textile mill. Cramer coined the term "air conditioning" in a patent claim which he filed that year, where he suggested that air conditioning was analogous to "water conditioning", then a well-known process for making textiles easier to process.^[32] He combined moisture with ventilation to "condition" and change the air in the factories; thus, controlling the humidity that is necessary in textile plants. Willis Carrier adopted the term and incorporated it into the name of his company.^[33]

Domestic air conditioning soon took off. In 1914, the first domestic air conditioning was installed in Minneapolis in the home of Charles Gilbert Gates. It is, however, possible that the considerable device (c. 2.1 m × 1.8 m × 6.1 m; 7 ft × 6 ft × 20 ft) was never used, as the house remained uninhabited^[20] (Gates had already died in October 1913.)

In 1931, H.H. Schultz and J.Q. Sherman developed what would become the most common type of individual room air conditioner: one designed to sit on a window ledge. The units went on sale in 1932 at US$10,000 to $50,000 (the equivalent of $200,000 to $1,200,000 in 2024.)^[20] A year later, the first air conditioning systems for cars were offered for sale.^[34] Chrysler Motors introduced the first practical semi-portable air conditioning unit in 1935,^[35] and Packard became the first automobile manufacturer to offer an air conditioning unit in its cars in 1939.^[36]

Innovations in the latter half of the 20th century allowed more ubiquitous air conditioner use. In 1945, Robert Sherman of Lynn, Massachusetts, invented a portable, in-window air conditioner that cooled, heated, humidified, dehumidified, and filtered the air.^[37] The first inverter air conditioners were released in 1980–1981.^[38][39]

In 1954, Ned Cole, a 1939 architecture graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, developed the first experimental "suburb" with inbuilt air conditioning in each house. 22 homes were developed on a flat, treeless track in northwest Austin, Texas, and the community was christened the 'Austin Air-Conditioned Village.' The residents were subjected to a year-long study of the effects of air conditioning led by the nation’s premier air conditioning companies, builders, and social scientists. In addition, researchers from UT’s Health Service and Psychology Department studied the effects on the "artificially cooled humans." One of the more amusing discoveries was that each family reported being troubled with scorpions, the leading theory being that scorpions sought cool, shady places. Other reported changes in lifestyle were that mothers baked more, families ate heavier foods, and they were more apt to choose hot drinks.^[40][41]

Air conditioner adoption tends to increase above around $10,000 annual household income in warmer areas.^[42] Global GDP growth explains around 85% of increased air condition adoption by 2050, while the remaining 15% can be explained by climate change.^[42]

As of 2016 an estimated 1.6 billion air conditioning units were used worldwide, with over half of them in China and USA, and a total cooling capacity of 11,675 gigawatts.^[8][43] The International Energy Agency predicted in 2018 that the number of air conditioning units would grow to around 4 billion units by 2050 and that the total cooling capacity would grow to around 23,000 GW, with the biggest increases in India and China.^[8] Between 1995 and 2004, the proportion of urban households in China with air conditioners increased from 8% to 70%.^[44] As of 2015, nearly 100 million homes, or about 87% of US households, had air conditioning systems.^[45] In 2019, it was estimated that 90% of new single-family homes constructed in the US included air conditioning (ranging from 99% in the South to 62% in the West).^[46][47]

Cooling in traditional air conditioner systems is accomplished using the vapor-compression cycle, which uses a refrigerant's forced circulation and phase change between gas and liquid to transfer heat.^[48][49] The vapor-compression cycle can occur within a unitary, or packaged piece of equipment; or within a chiller that is connected to terminal cooling equipment (such as a fan coil unit in an air handler) on its evaporator side and heat rejection equipment such as a cooling tower on its condenser side. An air source heat pump shares many components with an air conditioning system, but includes a reversing valve, which allows the unit to be used to heat as well as cool a space.^[50]

Air conditioning equipment will reduce the absolute humidity of the air processed by the system if the surface of the evaporator coil is significantly cooler than the dew point of the surrounding air. An air conditioner designed for an occupied space will typically achieve a 30% to 60% relative humidity in the occupied space.^[51]

Most modern air-conditioning systems feature a dehumidification cycle during which the compressor runs. At the same time, the fan is slowed to reduce the evaporator temperature and condense more water. A dehumidifier uses the same refrigeration cycle but incorporates both the evaporator and the condenser into the same air path; the air first passes over the evaporator coil, where it is cooled^[52] and dehumidified before passing over the condenser coil, where it is warmed again before it is released back into the room.^{[citation needed]}

Free cooling can sometimes be selected when the external air is cooler than the internal air. Therefore, the compressor does not need to be used, resulting in high cooling efficiencies for these times. This may also be combined with seasonal thermal energy storage.^[53]

Some air conditioning systems can reverse the refrigeration cycle and act as an air source heat pump, thus heating instead of cooling the indoor environment. They are also commonly referred to as "reverse cycle air conditioners". The heat pump is significantly more energy-efficient than electric resistance heating, because it moves energy from air or groundwater to the heated space and the heat from purchased electrical energy. When the heat pump is in heating mode, the indoor evaporator coil switches roles and becomes the condenser coil, producing heat. The outdoor condenser unit also switches roles to serve as the evaporator and discharges cold air (colder than the ambient outdoor air).

Most air source heat pumps become less efficient in outdoor temperatures lower than 4 °C or 40 °F.^[54] This is partly because ice forms on the outdoor unit's heat exchanger coil, which blocks air flow over the coil. To compensate for this, the heat pump system must temporarily switch back into the regular air conditioning mode to switch the outdoor evaporator coil back to the condenser coil, to heat up and defrost. Therefore, some heat pump systems will have electric resistance heating in the indoor air path that is activated only in this mode to compensate for the temporary indoor air cooling, which would otherwise be uncomfortable in the winter.

Newer models have improved cold-weather performance, with efficient heating capacity down to −14 °F (−26 °C).^[55][54][56] However, there is always a chance that the humidity that condenses on the heat exchanger of the outdoor unit could freeze, even in models that have improved cold-weather performance, requiring a defrosting cycle to be performed.

The icing problem becomes much more severe with lower outdoor temperatures, so heat pumps are sometimes installed in tandem with a more conventional form of heating, such as an electrical heater, a natural gas, heating oil, or wood-burning fireplace or central heating, which is used instead of or in addition to the heat pump during harsher winter temperatures. In this case, the heat pump is used efficiently during milder temperatures, and the system is switched to the conventional heat source when the outdoor temperature is lower.

The coefficient of performance (COP) of an air conditioning system is a ratio of useful heating or cooling provided to the work required.^[57][58] Higher COPs equate to lower operating costs. The COP usually exceeds 1; however, the exact value is highly dependent on operating conditions, especially absolute temperature and relative temperature between sink and system, and is often graphed or averaged against expected conditions.^[59] Air conditioner equipment power in the U.S. is often described in terms of "tons of refrigeration", with each approximately equal to the cooling power of one short ton (2,000 pounds (910 kg) of ice melting in a 24-hour period. The value is equal to 12,000 BTU_IT per hour, or 3,517 watts.^[60] Residential central air systems are usually from 1 to 5 tons (3.5 to 18 kW) in capacity.^{[citation needed]}

The efficiency of air conditioners is often rated by the seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER), which is defined by the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute in its 2008 standard AHRI 210/240, Performance Rating of Unitary Air-Conditioning and Air-Source Heat Pump Equipment.^[61] A similar standard is the European seasonal energy efficiency ratio (ESEER).^{[citation needed]}

Efficiency is strongly affected by the humidity of the air to be cooled. Dehumidifying the air before attempting to cool it can reduce subsequent cooling costs by as much as 90 percent. Thus, reducing dehumidifying costs can materially affect overall air conditioning costs.^[62]

A wireless remote controller

The infrared transmitting LED on the remote

The infrared receiver on the air conditioner

This type of controller uses an infrared LED to relay commands from a remote control to the air conditioner. The output of the infrared LED (like that of any infrared remote) is invisible to the human eye because its wavelength is beyond the range of visible light (940 nm). This system is commonly used on mini-split air conditioners because it is simple and portable. Some window and ducted central air conditioners uses it as well.

Several wired controllers (Indonesia, 2024)

A wired controller, also called a "wired thermostat," is a device that controls an air conditioner by switching heating or cooling on or off. It uses different sensors to measure temperatures and actuate control operations. Mechanical thermostats commonly use bimetallic strips, converting a temperature change into mechanical displacement, to actuate control of the air conditioner. Electronic thermostats, instead, use a thermistor or other semiconductor sensor, processing temperature change as electronic signals to control the air conditioner.

These controllers are usually used in hotel rooms because they are permanently installed into a wall and hard-wired directly into the air conditioner unit, eliminating the need for batteries.

* where the typical capacity is in kilowatt as follows:

• very small: <1.5 kW
• small: 1.5–3.5 kW
• medium: 4.2–7.1 kW
• large: 7.2–14 kW
• very large: >14 kW

Ductless systems (often mini-split, though there are now ducted mini-split) typically supply conditioned and heated air to a single or a few rooms of a building, without ducts and in a decentralized manner.^[63] Multi-zone or multi-split systems are a common application of ductless systems and allow up to eight rooms (zones or locations) to be conditioned independently from each other, each with its indoor unit and simultaneously from a single outdoor unit.

The first mini-split system was sold in 1961 by Toshiba in Japan, and the first wall-mounted mini-split air conditioner was sold in 1968 in Japan by Mitsubishi Electric, where small home sizes motivated their development. The Mitsubishi model was the first air conditioner with a cross-flow fan.^[64][65][66] In 1969, the first mini-split air conditioner was sold in the US.^[67] Multi-zone ductless systems were invented by Daikin in 1973, and variable refrigerant flow systems (which can be thought of as larger multi-split systems) were also invented by Daikin in 1982. Both were first sold in Japan.^[68] Variable refrigerant flow systems when compared with central plant cooling from an air handler, eliminate the need for large cool air ducts, air handlers, and chillers; instead cool refrigerant is transported through much smaller pipes to the indoor units in the spaces to be conditioned, thus allowing for less space above dropped ceilings and a lower structural impact, while also allowing for more individual and independent temperature control of spaces. The outdoor and indoor units can be spread across the building.^[69] Variable refrigerant flow indoor units can also be turned off individually in unused spaces.^{[citation needed]} The lower start-up power of VRF's DC inverter compressors and their inherent DC power requirements also allow VRF solar-powered heat pumps to be run using DC-providing solar panels.

Split-system central air conditioners consist of two heat exchangers, an outside unit (the condenser) from which heat is rejected to the environment and an internal heat exchanger (the evaporator, or Fan Coil Unit, FCU) with the piped refrigerant being circulated between the two. The FCU is then connected to the spaces to be cooled by ventilation ducts.^[70] Floor standing air conditioners are similar to this type of air conditioner but sit within spaces that need cooling.

Large central cooling plants may use intermediate coolant such as chilled water pumped into air handlers or fan coil units near or in the spaces to be cooled which then duct or deliver cold air into the spaces to be conditioned, rather than ducting cold air directly to these spaces from the plant, which is not done due to the low density and heat capacity of air, which would require impractically large ducts. The chilled water is cooled by chillers in the plant, which uses a refrigeration cycle to cool water, often transferring its heat to the atmosphere even in liquid-cooled chillers through the use of cooling towers. Chillers may be air- or liquid-cooled.^[71][72]

A portable system has an indoor unit on wheels connected to an outdoor unit via flexible pipes, similar to a permanently fixed installed unit (such as a ductless split air conditioner).

Hose systems, which can be monoblock or air-to-air, are vented to the outside via air ducts. The monoblock type collects the water in a bucket or tray and stops when full. The air-to-air type re-evaporates the water, discharges it through the ducted hose, and can run continuously. Many but not all portable units draw indoor air and expel it outdoors through a single duct, negatively impacting their overall cooling efficiency.

Many portable air conditioners come with heat as well as a dehumidification function.^[73]

The packaged terminal air conditioner (PTAC), through-the-wall, and window air conditioners are similar. These units are installed on a window frame or on a wall opening. The unit usually has an internal partition separating its indoor and outdoor sides, which contain the unit's condenser and evaporator, respectively. PTAC systems may be adapted to provide heating in cold weather, either directly by using an electric strip, gas, or other heaters, or by reversing the refrigerant flow to heat the interior and draw heat from the exterior air, converting the air conditioner into a heat pump. They may be installed in a wall opening with the help of a special sleeve on the wall and a custom grill that is flush with the wall and window air conditioners can also be installed in a window, but without a custom grill.^[74]

Packaged air conditioners (also known as self-contained units)^[75][76] are central systems that integrate into a single housing all the components of a split central system, and deliver air, possibly through ducts, to the spaces to be cooled. Depending on their construction they may be outdoors or indoors, on roofs (rooftop units),^[77][78] draw the air to be conditioned from inside or outside a building and be water or air-cooled. Often, outdoor units are air-cooled while indoor units are liquid-cooled using a cooling tower.^{[70][79][80][81][82][83]}

Main article: Reciprocating compressor

This compressor consists of a crankcase, crankshaft, piston rod, piston, piston ring, cylinder head and valves. ^{[citation needed]}

Main article: Scroll compressor

This compressor uses two interleaving scrolls to compress the refrigerant.^[84] it consists of one fixed and one orbiting scrolls. This type of compressor is more efficient because it has 70 percent less moving parts than a reciprocating compressor. ^{[citation needed]}

This compressor use two very closely meshing spiral rotors to compress the gas. The gas enters at the suction side and moves through the threads as the screws rotate. The meshing rotors force the gas through the compressor, and the gas exits at the end of the screws. The working area is the inter-lobe volume between the male and female rotors. It is larger at the intake end, and decreases along the length of the rotors until the exhaust port. This change in volume is the compression. ^{[citation needed]}

There are several ways to modulate the cooling capacity in refrigeration or air conditioning and heating systems. The most common in air conditioning are: on-off cycling, hot gas bypass, use or not of liquid injection, manifold configurations of multiple compressors, mechanical modulation (also called digital), and inverter technology. ^{[citation needed]}

Hot gas bypass involves injecting a quantity of gas from discharge to the suction side. The compressor will keep operating at the same speed, but due to the bypass, the refrigerant mass flow circulating with the system is reduced, and thus the cooling capacity. This naturally causes the compressor to run uselessly during the periods when the bypass is operating. The turn down capacity varies between 0 and 100%.^[85]

Several compressors can be installed in the system to provide the peak cooling capacity. Each compressor can run or not in order to stage the cooling capacity of the unit. The turn down capacity is either 0/33/66 or 100% for a trio configuration and either 0/50 or 100% for a tandem.^{[citation needed]}

This internal mechanical capacity modulation is based on periodic compression process with a control valve, the two scroll set move apart stopping the compression for a given time period. This method varies refrigerant flow by changing the average time of compression, but not the actual speed of the motor. Despite an excellent turndown ratio – from 10 to 100% of the cooling capacity, mechanically modulated scrolls have high energy consumption as the motor continuously runs.^{[citation needed]}

Main article: Inverter compressor

This system uses a variable-frequency drive (also called an Inverter) to control the speed of the compressor. The refrigerant flow rate is changed by the change in the speed of the compressor. The turn down ratio depends on the system configuration and manufacturer. It modulates from 15 or 25% up to 100% at full capacity with a single inverter from 12 to 100% with a hybrid tandem. This method is the most efficient way to modulate an air conditioner's capacity. It is up to 58% more efficient than a fixed speed system.^{[citation needed]}

In hot weather, air conditioning can prevent heat stroke, dehydration due to excessive sweating, electrolyte imbalance, kidney failure, and other issues due to hyperthermia.^[8][86] Heat waves are the most lethal type of weather phenomenon in the United States.^[87][88] A 2020 study found that areas with lower use of air conditioning correlated with higher rates of heat-related mortality and hospitalizations.^[89] The August 2003 France heatwave resulted in approximately 15,000 deaths, where 80% of the victims were over 75 years old. In response, the French government required all retirement homes to have at least one air-conditioned room at 25 °C (77 °F) per floor during heatwaves.^[8]

Air conditioning (including filtration, humidification, cooling and disinfection) can be used to provide a clean, safe, hypoallergenic atmosphere in hospital operating rooms and other environments where proper atmosphere is critical to patient safety and well-being. It is sometimes recommended for home use by people with allergies, especially mold.^[90][91] However, poorly maintained water cooling towers can promote the growth and spread of microorganisms such as Legionella pneumophila, the infectious agent responsible for Legionnaires' disease. As long as the cooling tower is kept clean (usually by means of a chlorine treatment), these health hazards can be avoided or reduced. The state of New York has codified requirements for registration, maintenance, and testing of cooling towers to protect against Legionella.^[92]

First designed to benefit targeted industries such as the press as well as large factories, the invention quickly spread to public agencies and administrations with studies with claims of increased productivity close to 24% in places equipped with air conditioning.^[93]

Air conditioning caused various shifts in demography, notably that of the United States starting from the 1970s. In the US, the birth rate was lower in the spring than during other seasons until the 1970s but this difference then declined since then.^[94] As of 2007, the Sun Belt contained 30% of the total US population while it was inhabited by 24% of Americans at the beginning of the 20th century.^[95] Moreover, the summer mortality rate in the US, which had been higher in regions subject to a heat wave during the summer, also evened out.^[7]

The spread of the use of air conditioning acts as a main driver for the growth of global demand of electricity.^[96] According to a 2018 report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), it was revealed that the energy consumption for cooling in the United States, involving 328 million Americans, surpasses the combined energy consumption of 4.4 billion people in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia (excluding China).^[8] A 2020 survey found that an estimated 88% of all US households use AC, increasing to 93% when solely looking at homes built between 2010 and 2020.^[97]

Space cooling including air conditioning accounted globally for 2021 terawatt-hours of energy usage in 2016 with around 99% in the form of electricity, according to a 2018 report on air-conditioning efficiency by the International Energy Agency.^[8] The report predicts an increase of electricity usage due to space cooling to around 6200 TWh by 2050,^[8][98] and that with the progress currently seen, greenhouse gas emissions attributable to space cooling will double: 1,135 million tons (2016) to 2,070 million tons.^[8] There is some push to increase the energy efficiency of air conditioners. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the IEA found that if air conditioners could be twice as effective as now, 460 billion tons of GHG could be cut over 40 years.^[99] The UNEP and IEA also recommended legislation to decrease the use of hydrofluorocarbons, better building insulation, and more sustainable temperature-controlled food supply chains going forward.^[99]

Refrigerants have also caused and continue to cause serious environmental issues, including ozone depletion and climate change, as several countries have not yet ratified the Kigali Amendment to reduce the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons.^[100] CFCs and HCFCs refrigerants such as R-12 and R-22, respectively, used within air conditioners have caused damage to the ozone layer,^[101] and hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants such as R-410A and R-404A, which were designed to replace CFCs and HCFCs, are instead exacerbating climate change.^[102] Both issues happen due to the venting of refrigerant to the atmosphere, such as during repairs. HFO refrigerants, used in some if not most new equipment, solve both issues with an ozone damage potential (ODP) of zero and a much lower global warming potential (GWP) in the single or double digits vs. the three or four digits of hydrofluorocarbons.^[103]

Hydrofluorocarbons would have raised global temperatures by around 0.3–0.5 °C (0.5–0.9 °F) by 2100 without the Kigali Amendment. With the Kigali Amendment, the increase of global temperatures by 2100 due to hydrofluorocarbons is predicted to be around 0.06 °C (0.1 °F).^[104]

Alternatives to continual air conditioning include passive cooling, passive solar cooling, natural ventilation, operating shades to reduce solar gain, using trees, architectural shades, windows (and using window coatings) to reduce solar gain.^{[citation needed]}

Socioeconomic groups with a household income below around $10,000 tend to have a low air conditioning adoption,^[42] which worsens heat-related mortality.^[7] The lack of cooling can be hazardous, as areas with lower use of air conditioning correlate with higher rates of heat-related mortality and hospitalizations.^[89] Premature mortality in NYC is projected to grow between 47% and 95% in 30 years, with lower-income and vulnerable populations most at risk.^[89] Studies on the correlation between heat-related mortality and hospitalizations and living in low socioeconomic locations can be traced in Phoenix, Arizona,^[105] Hong Kong,^[106] China,^[106] Japan,^[107] and Italy.^[108][109] Additionally, costs concerning health care can act as another barrier, as the lack of private health insurance during a 2009 heat wave in Australia, was associated with heat-related hospitalization.^[109]

Disparities in socioeconomic status and access to air conditioning are connected by some to institutionalized racism, which leads to the association of specific marginalized communities with lower economic status, poorer health, residing in hotter neighborhoods, engaging in physically demanding labor, and experiencing limited access to cooling technologies such as air conditioning.^[109] A study overlooking Chicago, Illinois, Detroit, and Michigan found that black households were half as likely to have central air conditioning units when compared to their white counterparts.^[110] Especially in cities, Redlining creates heat islands, increasing temperatures in certain parts of the city.^[109] This is due to materials heat-absorbing building materials and pavements and lack of vegetation and shade coverage.^[111] There have been initiatives that provide cooling solutions to low-income communities, such as public cooling spaces.^[8][111]

Buildings designed with passive air conditioning are generally less expensive to construct and maintain than buildings with conventional HVAC systems with lower energy demands.^[112] While tens of air changes per hour, and cooling of tens of degrees, can be achieved with passive methods, site-specific microclimate must be taken into account, complicating building design.^[12]

Many techniques can be used to increase comfort and reduce the temperature in buildings. These include evaporative cooling, selective shading, wind, thermal convection, and heat storage.^[113]

Passive ventilation is the process of supplying air to and removing air from an indoor space without using mechanical systems. It refers to the flow of external air to an indoor space as a result of pressure differences arising from natural forces.

There are two types of natural ventilation occurring in buildings: wind driven ventilation and buoyancy-driven ventilation. Wind driven ventilation arises from the different pressures created by wind around a building or structure, and openings being formed on the perimeter which then permit flow through the building. Buoyancy-driven ventilation occurs as a result of the directional buoyancy force that results from temperature differences between the interior and exterior.^[114]

Since the internal heat gains which create temperature differences between the interior and exterior are created by natural processes, including the heat from people, and wind effects are variable, naturally ventilated buildings are sometimes called "breathing buildings".

Passive cooling is a building design approach that focuses on heat gain control and heat dissipation in a building in order to improve the indoor thermal comfort with low or no energy consumption.^[115][116] This approach works either by preventing heat from entering the interior (heat gain prevention) or by removing heat from the building (natural cooling).^[117]

Natural cooling utilizes on-site energy, available from the natural environment, combined with the architectural design of building components (e.g. building envelope), rather than mechanical systems to dissipate heat.^[118] Therefore, natural cooling depends not only on the architectural design of the building but on how the site's natural resources are used as heat sinks (i.e. everything that absorbs or dissipates heat). Examples of on-site heat sinks are the upper atmosphere (night sky), the outdoor air (wind), and the earth/soil.

Passive cooling is an important tool for design of buildings for climate change adaptation – reducing dependency on energy-intensive air conditioning in warming environments.^[119][120]

Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) surfaces reflect incoming solar radiation and heat back into outer space through the infrared window for cooling during the daytime. Daytime radiative cooling became possible with the ability to suppress solar heating using photonic structures, which emerged through a study by Raman et al. (2014).^[122] PDRCs can come in a variety of forms, including paint coatings and films, that are designed to be high in solar reflectance and thermal emittance.^[121][123]

PDRC applications on building roofs and envelopes have demonstrated significant decreases in energy consumption and costs.^[123] In suburban single-family residential areas, PDRC application on roofs can potentially lower energy costs by 26% to 46%.^[124] PDRCs are predicted to show a market size of ~$27 billion for indoor space cooling by 2025 and have undergone a surge in research and development since the 2010s.^[125][126]

Hand fans have existed since prehistory. Large human-powered fans built into buildings include the punkah.

The 2nd-century Chinese inventor Ding Huan of the Han dynasty invented a rotary fan for air conditioning, with seven wheels 3 m (10 ft) in diameter and manually powered by prisoners.^{[127]: 99, 151, 233â€ÅÂÂÂÂ}  In 747, Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712–762) of the Tang dynasty (618–907) had the Cool Hall (Liang Dian 涼殿) built in the imperial palace, which the Tang Yulin describes as having water-powered fan wheels for air conditioning as well as rising jet streams of water from fountains. During the subsequent Song dynasty (960–1279), written sources mentioned the air conditioning rotary fan as even more widely used.^{[127]: 134, 151â€ÅÂÂÂÂ} 

In areas that are cold at night or in winter, heat storage is used. Heat may be stored in earth or masonry; air is drawn past the masonry to heat or cool it.^[13]

In areas that are below freezing at night in winter, snow and ice can be collected and stored in ice houses for later use in cooling.^[13] This technique is over 3,700 years old in the Middle East.^[128] Harvesting outdoor ice during winter and transporting and storing for use in summer was practiced by wealthy Europeans in the early 1600s,^[15] and became popular in Europe and the Americas towards the end of the 1600s.^[129] This practice was replaced by mechanical compression-cycle icemakers.

In dry, hot climates, the evaporative cooling effect may be used by placing water at the air intake, such that the draft draws air over water and then into the house. For this reason, it is sometimes said that the fountain, in the architecture of hot, arid climates, is like the fireplace in the architecture of cold climates.^[11] Evaporative cooling also makes the air more humid, which can be beneficial in a dry desert climate.^[130]

Evaporative coolers tend to feel as if they are not working during times of high humidity, when there is not much dry air with which the coolers can work to make the air as cool as possible for dwelling occupants. Unlike other types of air conditioners, evaporative coolers rely on the outside air to be channeled through cooler pads that cool the air before it reaches the inside of a house through its air duct system; this cooled outside air must be allowed to push the warmer air within the house out through an exhaust opening such as an open door or window.^[131]

• Air filter
• Air purifier
• Cleanroom
• Crankcase heater
• Energy recovery ventilation
• Indoor air quality
• Particulates

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Air conditioners.

Look up Cassette air conditioner in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikiversity has learning resources about Refrigeration and air conditioning

• U.S. patent 808,897 Carrier's original patent
• U.S. patent 1,172,429
• U.S. patent 2,363,294
• Scientific American, "Artificial Cold", 28 August 1880, p. 138
• Scientific American, "The Presidential Cold Air Machine", 6 August 1881, p. 84

Component which maintains a setpoint temperature

This article is about the temperature regulating device. For the French cooking oven temperature scale, see Gas Mark § Other cooking temperature scales.

 

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A thermostat is a regulating device component which senses the temperature of a physical system and performs actions so that the system's temperature is maintained near a desired setpoint.

Thermostats are used in any device or system that heats or cools to a setpoint temperature. Examples include building heating, central heating, air conditioners, HVAC systems, water heaters, as well as kitchen equipment including ovens and refrigerators and medical and scientific incubators. In scientific literature, these devices are often broadly classified as thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs). Thermostatically controlled loads comprise roughly 50% of the overall electricity demand in the United States.^[1]

A thermostat operates as a "closed loop" control device, as it seeks to reduce the error between the desired and measured temperatures. Sometimes a thermostat combines both the sensing and control action elements of a controlled system, such as in an automotive thermostat. The word thermostat is derived from the Greek words θερμÏŒς thermos, "hot" and στατÏŒς statos, "standing, stationary".

Overview

[edit]

A thermostat exerts control by switching heating or cooling devices on or off, or by regulating the flow of a heat transfer fluid as needed, to maintain the correct temperature. A thermostat can often be the main control unit for a heating or cooling system, in applications ranging from ambient air control to automotive coolant control. Thermostats are used in any device or system that heats or cools to a setpoint temperature. Examples include building heating, central heating, and air conditioners, kitchen equipment such as ovens and refrigerators, and medical and scientific incubators.

Construction and control

[edit]

Thermostats use different types of sensors to measure temperatures and actuate control operations. Mechanical thermostats commonly use bimetallic strips, converting a temperature change into mechanical displacement, to actuate control of the heating or cooling sources. Electronic thermostats, instead, use a thermistor or other semiconductor sensor, processing temperature change as electronic signals, to control the heating or cooling equipment.

Conventional thermostats are example of "bang-bang controllers" as the controlled system either operates at full capacity once the setpoint is reached, or keeps completely off. Although it is the simplest program to implement, such control method requires to include some hysteresis in order to prevent excessively rapid cycling of the equipment around the setpoint. As a consequence, conventional thermostats cannot control temperatures very precisely. Instead, there are oscillations of a certain magnitude, usually 1-2 °C.^[2] Such control is in general inaccurate, inefficient and may induce more mechanical wear; it however, allows for more cost-effective compressors compared to ones with continuously variable capacity.^{[3][clarification needed]}

Another consideration is the time delay of the controlled system. To improve the control performance of the system, thermostats can include an "anticipator", which stops heating/cooling slightly earlier than reaching the setpoint, as the system will continue to produce heat for a short while.^[4] Turning off exactly at the setpoint will cause actual temperature to exceed the desired range, known as "overshoot". Bimetallic sensors can include a physical "anticipator", which has a thin wire touched on the thermostat. When current passes the wire, a small amount of heat is generated and transferred to the bimetallic coil. Electronic thermostats have an electronic equivalent.^[5]

When higher control precision is required, a PID or MPC controller is preferred. However, they are nowadays mainly adopted for industrial purposes, for example, for semiconductor manufacturing factories or museums.

Sensor types

[edit]

Early technologies included mercury thermometers with electrodes inserted directly through the glass, so that when a certain (fixed) temperature was reached the contacts would be closed by the mercury. These were accurate to within a degree of temperature.

Common sensor technologies in use today include:

• Bimetallic mechanical or electrical sensors.
• Expanding wax pellets
• Electronic thermistors and semiconductor devices
• Electrical thermocouples

These may then control the heating or cooling apparatus using:

• Direct mechanical control
• Electrical signals
• Pneumatic signals

Possibly the earliest recorded examples of thermostatic control were built by a Dutch innovator, Cornelis Drebbel (1572–1633), about 1620 in England. He invented a mercury thermostat to regulate the temperature of a chicken incubator.^[6] This is one of the first recorded feedback-controlled devices.

Modern thermostatic control was developed in the 1830s by Andrew Ure (1778–1857), a Scottish chemist. The textile mills of the time needed a constant and steady temperature to operate optimally, so Ure designed the bimetallic thermostat, which would bend as one of the metals expanded in response to the increased temperature and cut off the energy supply.^[7]

Warren S. Johnson (1847–1911), of Wisconsin, patented a bi-metal room thermostat in 1883, and two years later sought a patent for the first multi-zone thermostatic control system.^[8][9] Albert Butz (1849–1905) invented the electric thermostat and patented it in 1886.

One of the first industrial uses of the thermostat was in the regulation of the temperature in poultry incubators. Charles Hearson, a British engineer, designed the first modern incubator for eggs, which was taken up for use on poultry farms in 1879.^[10]

This covers only devices which both sense and control using purely mechanical means.

Domestic water and steam based central heating systems have traditionally been controlled by bi-metallic strip thermostats, and this is dealt with later in this article. Purely mechanical control has been localised steam or hot-water radiator bi-metallic thermostats which regulated the individual flow. However, thermostatic radiator valves (TRV) are now being widely used.

Purely mechanical thermostats are used to regulate dampers in some rooftop turbine vents, reducing building heat loss in cool or cold periods.

Some automobile passenger heating systems have a thermostatically controlled valve to regulate the water flow and temperature to an adjustable level. In older vehicles the thermostat controls the application of engine vacuum to actuators that control water valves and flappers to direct the flow of air. In modern vehicles, the vacuum actuators may be operated by small solenoids under the control of a central computer.

Perhaps the most common example of purely mechanical thermostat technology in use today is the internal combustion engine cooling system thermostat, used to maintain the engine near its optimum operating temperature by regulating the flow of coolant to an air-cooled radiator. This type of thermostat operates using a sealed chamber containing a wax pellet that melts and expands at a set temperature. The expansion of the chamber operates a rod which opens a valve when the operating temperature is exceeded. The operating temperature is determined by the composition of the wax. Once the operating temperature is reached, the thermostat progressively increases or decreases its opening in response to temperature changes, dynamically balancing the coolant recirculation flow and coolant flow to the radiator to maintain the engine temperature in the optimum range.

On many automobile engines, including all Chrysler Group and General Motors products, the thermostat does not restrict flow to the heater core. The passenger side tank of the radiator is used as a bypass to the thermostat, flowing through the heater core. This prevents formation of steam pockets before the thermostat opens, and allows the heater to function before the thermostat opens. Another benefit is that there is still some flow through the radiator if the thermostat fails.

A thermostatic mixing valve uses a wax pellet to control the mixing of hot and cold water. A common application is to permit operation of an electric water heater at a temperature hot enough to kill Legionella bacteria (above 60 °C, 140 °F), while the output of the valve produces water that is cool enough to not immediately scald (49 °C, 120 °F).

A wax pellet driven valve can be analyzed through graphing the wax pellet's hysteresis which consists of two thermal expansion curves; extension (motion) vs. temperature increase, and contraction (motion) vs. temperature decrease. The spread between the up and down curves visually illustrate the valve's hysteresis; there is always hysteresis within wax driven valves due to the phase transition or phase change between solids and liquids. Hysteresis can be controlled with specialized blended mixes of hydrocarbons; tight hysteresis is what most desire, however some applications require broader ranges. Wax pellet driven valves are used in anti scald, freeze protection, over-temp purge, solar thermal energy or solar thermal, automotive, and aerospace applications among many others.

Thermostats are sometimes used to regulate gas ovens. It consists of a gas-filled bulb connected to the control unit by a slender copper tube. The bulb is normally located at the top of the oven. The tube ends in a chamber sealed by a diaphragm. As the thermostat heats up, the gas expands applying pressure to the diaphragm which reduces the flow of gas to the burner.

A pneumatic thermostat is a thermostat that controls a heating or cooling system via a series of air-filled control tubes. This "control air" system responds to the pressure changes (due to temperature) in the control tube to activate heating or cooling when required. The control air typically is maintained on "mains" at 15-18 psi (although usually operable up to 20 psi). Pneumatic thermostats typically provide output/ branch/ post-restrictor (for single-pipe operation) pressures of 3-15 psi which is piped to the end device (valve/ damper actuator/ pneumatic-electric switch, etc.).^[11]

The pneumatic thermostat was invented by Warren Johnson in 1895^[12] soon after he invented the electric thermostat. In 2009, Harry Sim was awarded a patent for a pneumatic-to-digital interface^[13] that allows pneumatically controlled buildings to be integrated with building automation systems to provide similar benefits as direct digital control (DDC).

Water and steam based central heating systems have traditionally had overall control by wall-mounted bi-metallic strip thermostats. These sense the air temperature using the differential expansion of two metals to actuate an on/off switch.^[14] Typically the central system would be switched on when the temperature drops below the setpoint on the thermostat, and switched off when it rises above, with a few degrees of hysteresis to prevent excessive switching. Bi-metallic sensing is now being superseded by electronic sensors. A principal use of the bi-metallic thermostat today is in individual electric convection heaters, where control is on/off, based on the local air temperature and the setpoint desired by the user. These are also used on air-conditioners, where local control is required.

This follows the same nomenclature as described in Relay § Terminology and Switch § Contact terminology. A thermostat is considered to be activated by thermal energy, thus “normal” refers to the state in which temperature is below the setpoint.

• "NO" stands for "normally open". This is the same as "COR" ("close on rise"). May be used to start a fan when it is becoming hot, and to stop the fan when it has become cold enough.
• "NC" stands for "normally closed". This is the same as "OOR" ("open on rise"). May be used to start a heater when it is becoming cold, and to stop the heater when it has become warm enough.
• "CO" stands for "change over". This serves both as "NO" and "NC". May be used to start a fan when it is becoming hot, but also (on the opposite terminal), to start a heater when it is becoming cold.

Any leading number stands for number of contact sets, like "1NO", "1NC" for one contact set with two terminals. "1CO" will also have one contact set, even if it is a switch-over with three terminals.

The illustration is the interior of a common two wire heat-only household thermostat, used to regulate a gas-fired heater via an electric gas valve. Similar mechanisms may also be used to control oil furnaces, boilers, boiler zone valves, electric attic fans, electric furnaces, electric baseboard heaters, and household appliances such as refrigerators, coffee pots and hair dryers. The power through the thermostat is provided by the heating device and may range from millivolts to 240 volts in common North American construction, and is used to control the heating system either directly (electric baseboard heaters and some electric furnaces) or indirectly (all gas, oil and forced hot water systems). Due to the variety of possible voltages and currents available at the thermostat, caution must be taken when selecting a replacement device.

1. Setpoint control lever. This is moved to the right for a higher temperature. The round indicator pin in the center of the second slot shows through a numbered slot in the outer case.
2. Bimetallic strip wound into a coil. The center of the coil is attached to a rotating post attached to lever (1). As the coil gets colder the moving end — carrying (4) — moves clockwise.
3. Flexible wire. The left side is connected via one wire of a pair to the heater control valve.
4. Moving contact attached to the bimetal coil. Thence, to the heater's controller.
5. Fixed contact screw. This is adjusted by the manufacturer. It is connected electrically by a second wire of the pair to the thermocouple and the heater's electrically operated gas valve.
6. Magnet. This ensures a good contact when the contact closes. It also provides hysteresis to prevent short heating cycles, as the temperature must be raised several degrees before the contacts will open. As an alternative, some thermostats instead use a mercury switch on the end of the bimetal coil. The weight of the mercury on the end of the coil tends to keep it there, also preventing short heating cycles. However, this type of thermostat is banned in many countries due to its highly and permanently toxic nature if broken. When replacing these thermostats they must be regarded as chemical waste.

Not shown in the illustration is a separate bimetal thermometer on the outer case to show the actual temperature at the thermostat.

As illustrated in the use of the thermostat above, all of the power for the control system is provided by a thermopile which is a combination of many stacked thermocouples, heated by the pilot light. The thermopile produces sufficient electrical power to drive a low-power gas valve, which under control of one or more thermostat switches, in turn controls the input of fuel to the burner.

This type of device is generally considered obsolete as pilot lights can waste a surprising amount of gas (in the same way a dripping faucet can waste a large amount of water over an extended period), and are also no longer used on stoves, but are still to be found in many gas water heaters and gas fireplaces. Their poor efficiency is acceptable in water heaters, since most of the energy "wasted" on the pilot still represents a direct heat gain for the water tank. The Millivolt system also makes it unnecessary for a special electrical circuit to be run to the water heater or furnace; these systems are often completely self-sufficient and can run without any external electrical power supply. For tankless "on demand" water heaters, pilot ignition is preferable because it is faster than hot-surface ignition and more reliable than spark ignition.

Some programmable thermostats - those that offer simple "millivolt" or "two-wire" modes - will control these systems.

The majority of modern heating/cooling/heat pump thermostats operate on low voltage (typically 24 volts AC) control circuits. The source of the 24 volt AC power is a control transformer installed as part of the heating/cooling equipment. The advantage of the low voltage control system is the ability to operate multiple electromechanical switching devices such as relays, contactors, and sequencers using inherently safe voltage and current levels.^[15] Built into the thermostat is a provision for enhanced temperature control using anticipation.

A heat anticipator generates a small amount of additional heat to the sensing element while the heating appliance is operating. This opens the heating contacts slightly early to prevent the space temperature from greatly overshooting the thermostat setting. A mechanical heat anticipator is generally adjustable and should be set to the current flowing in the heating control circuit when the system is operating.

A cooling anticipator generates a small amount of additional heat to the sensing element while the cooling appliance is not operating. This causes the contacts to energize the cooling equipment slightly early, preventing the space temperature from climbing excessively. Cooling anticipators are generally non-adjustable.

Electromechanical thermostats use resistance elements as anticipators. Most electronic thermostats use either thermistor devices or integrated logic elements for the anticipation function. In some electronic thermostats, the thermistor anticipator may be located outdoors, providing a variable anticipation depending on the outdoor temperature.

Thermostat enhancements include outdoor temperature display, programmability, and system fault indication. While such 24 volt thermostats are incapable of operating a furnace when the mains power fails, most such furnaces require mains power for heated air fans (and often also hot-surface or electronic spark ignition) rendering moot the functionality of the thermostat. In other circumstances such as piloted wall and "gravity" (fanless) floor and central heaters the low voltage system described previously may be capable of remaining functional when electrical power is unavailable.

There are no standards for wiring color codes, but convention has settled on the following terminal codes and colors.^[16][17] In all cases, the manufacturer's instructions should be considered definitive.

Older, mostly deprecated designations:

Line voltage thermostats are most commonly used for electric space heaters such as a baseboard heater or a direct-wired electric furnace. If a line voltage thermostat is used, system power (in the United States, 120 or 240 volts) is directly switched by the thermostat. With switching current often exceeding 40 amperes, using a low voltage thermostat on a line voltage circuit will result at least in the failure of the thermostat and possibly a fire. Line voltage thermostats are sometimes used in other applications, such as the control of fan-coil (fan powered from line voltage blowing through a coil of tubing which is either heated or cooled by a larger system) units in large systems using centralized boilers and chillers, or to control circulation pumps in hydronic heating applications.

Some programmable thermostats are available to control line-voltage systems. Baseboard heaters will especially benefit from a programmable thermostat which is capable of continuous control (as are at least some Honeywell models), effectively controlling the heater like a lamp dimmer, and gradually increasing and decreasing heating to ensure an extremely constant room temperature (continuous control rather than relying on the averaging effects of hysteresis). Systems which include a fan (electric furnaces, wall heaters, etc.) must typically use simple on/off controls.

Newer digital thermostats have no moving parts to measure temperature and instead rely on thermistors or other semiconductor devices such as a resistance thermometer (resistance temperature detector). Typically one or more regular batteries must be installed to operate it, although some so-called "power stealing" digital thermostats (operated for energy harvesting) use the common 24-volt AC circuits as a power source, but will not operate on thermopile powered "millivolt" circuits used in some furnaces. Each has an LCD screen showing the current temperature, and the current setting. Most also have a clock, and time-of-day and even day-of-week settings for the temperature, used for comfort and energy conservation. Some advanced models have touch screens, or the ability to work with home automation or building automation systems.

Digital thermostats use either a relay or a semiconductor device such as triac to act as a switch to control the HVAC unit. Units with relays will operate millivolt systems, but often make an audible "click" noise when switching on or off.

HVAC systems with the ability to modulate their output can be combined with thermostats that have a built-in PID controller to achieve smoother operation. There are also modern thermostats featuring adaptive algorithms to further improve the inertia prone system behaviour. For instance, setting those up so that the temperature in the morning at 7 a.m. should be 21 °C (69.8 °F), makes sure that at that time the temperature will be 21 °C (69.8 °F), where a conventional thermostat would just start working at that time. The algorithms decide at what time the system should be activated in order to reach the desired temperature at the desired time.^[18] Other thermostat used for process/industrial control where on/off control is not suitable the PID control can also makes sure that the temperature is very stable (for instance, by reducing overshoots by fine tuning PID constants for set value (SV)^[19] or maintaining temperature in a band by deploying hysteresis control.^[20])

Most digital thermostats in common residential use in North America and Europe are programmable thermostats, which will typically provide a 30% energy savings if left with their default programs; adjustments to these defaults may increase or reduce energy savings.^[21] The programmable thermostat article provides basic information on the operation, selection and installation of such a thermostat.

Gas

1. Start draft inducer fan/blower (if the furnace is relatively recent) to create a column of air flowing up the chimney
2. Heat ignitor or start spark-ignition system
3. Open gas valve to ignite main burners
4. Wait (if furnace is relatively recent) until the heat exchanger is at proper operating temperature before starting main blower fan or circulator pump

Oil

Similar to gas, except rather than opening a valve, the furnace will start an oil pump to inject oil into the burner

Electric

The blower fan or circulator pump will be started, and a large electromechanical relay or TRIAC will turn on the heating elements

Coal, grain or pellet

Generally rare today (though grains such as corn, wheat, and barley, or pellets made of wood, bark, or cardboard are increasing in popularity); similar to gas, except rather than opening a valve, the furnace will start a screw to drive coal/grain/pellets into the firebox

With non-zoned (typical residential, one thermostat for the whole house) systems, when the thermostat's R (or Rh) and W terminals are connected, the furnace will go through its start-up procedure and produce heat.

With zoned systems (some residential, many commercial systems — several thermostats controlling different "zones" in the building), the thermostat will cause small electric motors to open valves or dampers and start the furnace or boiler if it is not already running.

Most programmable thermostats will control these systems.

Depending on what is being controlled, a forced-air air conditioning thermostat generally has an external switch for heat/off/cool, and another on/auto to turn the blower fan on constantly or only when heating and cooling are running. Four wires come to the centrally-located thermostat from the main heating/cooling unit (usually located in a closet, basement, or occasionally in the attic): One wire, usually red, supplies 24 volts AC power to the thermostat, while the other three supply control signals from the thermostat, usually white for heat, yellow for cooling, and green to turn on the blower fan. The power is supplied by a transformer, and when the thermostat makes contact between the 24 volt power and one or two of the other wires, a relay back at the heating/cooling unit activates the corresponding heat/fan/cool function of the unit(s).

A thermostat, when set to "cool", will only turn on when the ambient temperature of the surrounding room is above the set temperature. Thus, if the controlled space has a temperature normally above the desired setting when the heating/cooling system is off, it would be wise to keep the thermostat set to "cool", despite what the temperature is outside. On the other hand, if the temperature of the controlled area falls below the desired degree, then it is advisable to turn the thermostat to "heat".

The heat pump is a refrigeration based appliance which reverses refrigerant flow between the indoor and outdoor coils. This is done by energizing a reversing valve (also known as a "4-way" or "change-over" valve). During cooling, the indoor coil is an evaporator removing heat from the indoor air and transferring it to the outdoor coil where it is rejected to the outdoor air. During heating, the outdoor coil becomes the evaporator and heat is removed from the outdoor air and transferred to the indoor air through the indoor coil. The reversing valve, controlled by the thermostat, causes the change-over from heat to cool. Residential heat pump thermostats generally have an "O" terminal to energize the reversing valve in cooling. Some residential and many commercial heat pump thermostats use a "B" terminal to energize the reversing valve in heating. The heating capacity of a heat pump decreases as outdoor temperatures fall. At some outdoor temperature (called the balance point) the ability of the refrigeration system to transfer heat into the building falls below the heating needs of the building. A typical heat pump is fitted with electric heating elements to supplement the refrigeration heat when the outdoor temperature is below this balance point. Operation of the supplemental heat is controlled by a second stage heating contact in the heat pump thermostat. During heating, the outdoor coil is operating at a temperature below the outdoor temperature and condensation on the coil may take place. This condensation may then freeze onto the coil, reducing its heat transfer capacity. Heat pumps therefore have a provision for occasional defrost of the outdoor coil. This is done by reversing the cycle to the cooling mode, shutting off the outdoor fan, and energizing the electric heating elements. The electric heat in defrost mode is needed to keep the system from blowing cold air inside the building. The elements are then used in the "reheat" function. Although the thermostat may indicate the system is in defrost and electric heat is activated, the defrost function is not controlled by the thermostat. Since the heat pump has electric heat elements for supplemental and reheats, the heat pump thermostat provides for use of the electric heat elements should the refrigeration system fail. This function is normally activated by an "E" terminal on the thermostat. When in emergency heat, the thermostat makes no attempt to operate the compressor or outdoor fan.

The thermostat should not be located on an outside wall or where it could be exposed to direct sunlight at any time during the day. It should be located away from the room's cooling or heating vents or device, yet exposed to general airflow from the room(s) to be regulated.^[22] An open hallway may be most appropriate for a single zone system, where living rooms and bedrooms are operated as a single zone. If the hallway may be closed by doors from the regulated spaces then these should be left open when the system is in use. If the thermostat is too close to the source controlled then the system will tend to "short a cycle", and numerous starts and stops can be annoying and in some cases shorten equipment life. A multiple zoned system can save considerable energy by regulating individual spaces, allowing unused rooms to vary in temperature by turning off the heating and cooling.

HVAC systems take a long time, usually one to several hours, to cool down or warm up the space from near outdoor conditions in summer or winter. Thus, it is a common practice to set setback temperatures when the space is not occupied (night and/or holidays). On the one hand, compared with maintaining at the original setpoint, substantial energy consumption can be saved.^[23] On the other hand, compared with turning off the system completely, it avoids room temperature drifting too much from the comfort zone, thus reducing the time of possible discomfort when the space is again occupied. New thermostats are mostly programmable and include an internal clock that allows this setback feature to be easily incorporated.

It has been reported that many thermostats in office buildings are non-functional dummy devices, installed to give tenants' employees an illusion of control.^[24][25] These dummy thermostats are in effect a type of placebo button. However, these thermostats are often used to detect the temperature in the zone, even though their controls are disabled. This function is often referred to as "lockout".^[26]

• Smart thermostat (and Wi-Fi thermostat)
• Automatic control
• On-off control
• OpenTherm

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thermostats.

• Professional Reference Guide
• "How A Thermostat Tends Your Furnance" 1951 article on the basics of the automatic furnace thermostats—this reference has good drawings and illustrations.
• How the Sun Affects a Thermostat (Energy2D: Online Java Simulation)
• "How Wax Pellet Thermostatic Valves Function" An Illustration Archived August 7, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
• "Diagrams of Wax Motors i.e. "Wax Pellets"" Archived July 15, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
• "Animation of Bimetallic Switch" Archived August 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine