My dryer is a heat pump. The only issue is it takes a long time to dry my clothes, but the benefits are huge power use decrease, and so much more gentle on my clothes.
Heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future
131–140 of 494 posts
Re: Heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future
#132In a house I own in Melbourne, Australia, I just replaced an old gas central heating system with 3 new top of the line Daikin mini split heat pumps. The new units can heat the entire house for the same amount of electrical energy that was used to run the FAN in the old gas unit. They are crazy efficient. Ducts are dead. The Daikin Alira X is the gold-plated option and cost $8k AUD for 2x2.5kw and 1x7.1kw units includ…
> Ducts are dead. Ducts are still needed to circulate air, especially if you want to remove stale air (e.g., bathrooms, kitchen) and bring in (filtered) fresh air (to bedrooms).
Not being snarky but why don't you just open the window for that?
I have a CO2 detector that I believe is a reasonable proxy for stale air. When it goes above 1000 I simply open the windows. By the time I remember to close the windows the reading is almost always below 500.
Re: Heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future
#133[dead]
Re: Heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future
#134In a house I own in Melbourne, Australia, I just replaced an old gas central heating system with 3 new top of the line Daikin mini split heat pumps. The new units can heat the entire house for the same amount of electrical energy that was used to run the FAN in the old gas unit. They are crazy efficient. Ducts are dead. The Daikin Alira X is the gold-plated option and cost $8k AUD for 2x2.5kw and 1x7.1kw units includ…
> Ducts are dead. Ducts are still needed to circulate air, especially if you want to remove stale air (e.g., bathrooms, kitchen) and bring in (filtered) fresh air (to bedrooms).
Agree, ducts are wonderful! If you don't have ducts, go ductless for sure.
Re: Heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
How much electricity was the fan using? :)
Indeed, sounds like a problem with the fan. My 3000sf house uses 1100W for the fan, and about 4000W for the heat pump. I expect converting to mini-splits would increase, not decrease my overall power usage.
Pretty sure mini splits are significantly more efficient today, with SCOP of above 5, so that seems unlikely?
Re: Heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Ducts are dead. Ducts are still needed to circulate air, especially if you want to remove stale air (e.g., bathrooms, kitchen) and bring in (filtered) fresh air (to bedrooms).
Agree, ducts are wonderful! If you don't have ducts, go ductless for sure.
Am I crazy, or are those two sentences completely contradictory?
Re: Heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future
#137> heat pumps: electrical devices Just to be pedantic, but not exactly. The typical design in a domestic heating unit, or refrigerator is mechanical. A fluid is pumped and cyclically compressed/expanded. While electric motors are usually used, they can be driven by any source of mechanical energy; driven directly by a combustion engine is not too unusual. There are also heat pump cycles that can be driven directly wit…
> There are also heat pump cycles that can be driven directly with heat. Refrigerators based on that are relatively common here in Canada in areas without reliable grid electricity. Usually a propane or natural gas flame.
Notably, the propane fridges used in RVs (which AFAIK usually use ammonia for the refrigerant) are extremely inefficient. They have the huge upside of requiring very little electrical power to operate, but would never be my choice if I wasn't tightly limited on electrical power.
Re: Heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future
#138In a house I own in Melbourne, Australia, I just replaced an old gas central heating system with 3 new top of the line Daikin mini split heat pumps. The new units can heat the entire house for the same amount of electrical energy that was used to run the FAN in the old gas unit. They are crazy efficient. Ducts are dead. The Daikin Alira X is the gold-plated option and cost $8k AUD for 2x2.5kw and 1x7.1kw units includ…
> Ducts are dead. Ducts are still needed to circulate air, especially if you want to remove stale air (e.g., bathrooms, kitchen) and bring in (filtered) fresh air (to bedrooms).
They're obviously no replacement for exhaust fans in bathrooms and kitchens, but there's a number of ductless energy recovery ventilators that can give you fresh air in your bedroom(s).
https://www.buildwithrise.com/stories/ductless-heat-recovery
Re: Heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future
#139> heat pumps: electrical devices Just to be pedantic, but not exactly. The typical design in a domestic heating unit, or refrigerator is mechanical. A fluid is pumped and cyclically compressed/expanded. While electric motors are usually used, they can be driven by any source of mechanical energy; driven directly by a combustion engine is not too unusual. There are also heat pump cycles that can be driven directly wit…
You are not adding anything to the conversation, but I still love pedantic comments like these.
Hmm, as somebody who knew a bit about heat pumps but not much, I did find it added to clarify/distinguish between the main mode of operation of heat pump, used to accomplish the actual heat transfer; and what power / mechanism is used to move the mechanical bits.
I.e. an internal combustion engine implicitly uses some kind of burning fuel; if on the other hand you want to use electricity as energy source, it needs a different kind of engine entirely. But that, as I understand from the post, is not the case here - heat pump as described here can operate on same principle and look broadly similar in its core parts, whether powered by electricity or something else.
Re: Heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
> it seems crazy that I warm the air of my house and then use electricity to keep the fridge cooler than the air I just heated The fridge is simply moving a little of the warmth in your room out of its box, and adding a little more warmth to the room in the process. You lose no heat from the room, which is what matters, really. It would be worse to dump the heat outside! At least in winter. The heat has to be removed…
The smart thing to do in winter is put municipal liquid water in your freezer, and dump it outside once frozen to thaw in spring. Rince repeat all winter long. Voila: everyone has heat pump heating! (And dead compressors). The dumb thing is having the compressor itself indoors in summer. Should be outside.
The issue with that is that if it’s outside, you need a hole in the wall somewhere to connect it.
Today fridges are more or less plug and play. Most kitchens don’t have a hole in the wall going outside where the fridge would go. Some kitchens aren’t even on walls facing the exterior (which I dislike, but they exist)