A/C Condenser

Air Conditioning Condenser

The air conditioning condenser cools the gas Freon low enough to turn it into cold liquid Freon.  This is done by running it through a series of fins in the condenser.  These fins are cooled by air coming into the vehicle and thus cool the Freon.

Many newer vehicles have serpentine or parallel flow condensers that simply cannot be properly cleaned and must be replaced

The condenser is located in front of the engines radiator, on most vehicles, where a strong flow of RAM air can be counted on to draw heat away from the hot high pressure refrigerant. As with the radiator, air is drawn through the condenser by a fan when the vehicle is less moving than 30 MPH.

Condenser Function Hot, high pressure refrigerant gas enters the condenser at the top, and liquid refrigerant is delivered from the bottom. The refrigerant entering the condenser is 100 percent gaseous, as the refrigerant flows through the condenser the cooler air passing over the tubes and fins cools the refrigerant below its boiling point, causing it to condense into a liquid. The latent heat that was absorbed in the evaporator is then given off to the outside air and the refrigerant is ready for another cycle through the evaporator.

Condenser Designs

R12 Serpentine

R134a Parallel

R134a Serpentine

R12 Systems The size and design of the condenser determines the amount of heat that can be transferred to the outside air. R12 systems utilized a serpentine tube and fin construction. 5/16 inch diameter tubes were common in R12 condensers.

R134a Systems R134a systems utilize condensers with multiple passages for the refrigerant to flow through. Some of the passages are only 1.5mm in diameter. These condensers can be either serpentine or parallel flow in design.

Condenser Applications There are OE replacement and universal condensers. OE style condensers are listed by model and vehicle year. Universal condensers are listed in the Illustrated Guide by size, fittings, and type. We provide Multi-Flow Universal Condensers that can be used in older R12 systems or R12 systems that have been converted to R134a.

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