Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Thermoelectric heating stands at the brink of commercialization

spectrum.ieee.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–126 of 126 posts

Re: Thermoelectric heating stands at the brink of commercialization

#121

Post by kwhitefoot »

balfirevic wrote: post #109
kwhitefoot wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Scandinavia we use air to air heat pumps. We generally don't have central heating of any kind so we aren't so tempted to try to shoehorn the heat pump into a system based on hot water. Air to air is much cheaper and is more efficient because it doesn't need to raise the temperature of the working fluid so much and doesn't require a big fluid to water heat exchanger. I'm having a Toshiba Polar 35 heat pump installe…

How do you deal with ventilation? Central unit, or a device per room? Or just opening windows? :-) > Air to air is much cheaper and is more efficient because it doesn't need to raise the temperature of the working fluid so much and doesn't require a big fluid to water heat exchanger It might still be worth it to go with water based system if you're going to have underfloor heating. It requires lower water temperature…

We rarely need cooling. Average annual temperature is 14°C, maximum last year was 31.5°C in July but the average that month was 17.8°C

:-)

Re: Thermoelectric heating stands at the brink of commercialization

#122

Post by fragmede »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #121
balfirevic wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you deal with ventilation? Central unit, or a device per room? Or just opening windows? :-) > Air to air is much cheaper and is more efficient because it doesn't need to raise the temperature of the working fluid so much and doesn't require a big fluid to water heat exchanger It might still be worth it to go with water based system if you're going to have underfloor heating. It requires lower water temperature…

We rarely need cooling. Average annual temperature is 14°C, maximum last year was 31.5°C in July but the average that month was 17.8°C :-)

Hopefully that lasts! Where I live it didn't use to get hot, so no one has air conditioning, but for the past three years we've been hit with a week of 32°C/90°f + temperature. Those that can afford it have added air conditioning, but as global climate change kicks in, I'm expecting more extreme weather to become the norm.

Re: Thermoelectric heating stands at the brink of commercialization

#123

Post by crazygringo »

dcuthbertson wrote: post #91
stetrain wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fairly common in the US to have central AC plus a gas furnace. Retrofitting the AC with a heat pump lets you move away from the gas system.

Replacing an AC system with a heat pump might provide you with an avenue to move away from a gas furnace, but I found that avenue to be very expensive. I live in New England and in June 2022 I replaced a broken down AC system with a heat pump. The company installed an electric supplemental heating unit, because the heat pump can work down to only 25F (about -4C) and during Winter it will definitely get colder than th…

Modern heat pumps are able to work at much colder temperatures than that.

I understand your bill went up because the backup electric heating was kicking in.

I don't understand why in 2022 it would even be an option to get a heat pump installed that only works down to 25°F. That's super outdated tech.

Re: Thermoelectric heating stands at the brink of commercialization

#124

Post by ChatGTP »

fragmede wrote: post #122
kwhitefoot wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We rarely need cooling. Average annual temperature is 14°C, maximum last year was 31.5°C in July but the average that month was 17.8°C :-)

Hopefully that lasts! Where I live it didn't use to get hot, so no one has air conditioning, but for the past three years we've been hit with a week of 32°C/90°f + temperature. Those that can afford it have added air conditioning, but as global climate change kicks in, I'm expecting more extreme weather to become the norm.

I don't want to be rude, but the fact people install are conditioners for 1 week of 32°C is absolutely ridiculous.

The majority of the world deal with these temps for months on end without A/C.

Re: Thermoelectric heating stands at the brink of commercialization

#125

Post by fragmede »

ChatGTP wrote: post #124
fragmede wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully that lasts! Where I live it didn't use to get hot, so no one has air conditioning, but for the past three years we've been hit with a week of 32°C/90°f + temperature. Those that can afford it have added air conditioning, but as global climate change kicks in, I'm expecting more extreme weather to become the norm.

I don't want to be rude, but the fact people install are conditioners for 1 week of 32°C is absolutely ridiculous. The majority of the world deal with these temps for months on end without A/C.

I mean, not everyone went out and bought one, a lot of people just put up with it. But a window AC is roughly $200, which fits within the disposable income budget of the middle class.

Re: Thermoelectric heating stands at the brink of commercialization

#126

Post by thsksbd »

grecy wrote: post #59
thsksbd wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the PD to deliver work it would have to transport heat outside. Heat you're burning wood to have inside. Better to store the heat somehow, and have it be slowly released.

Heat we have a massive, massive, massive excess of. It's electricity I want, in the winter, when the sun is only on the solar panels for ~3 hours a day.

ya, but not enough to overcome PD's limitations.

You're better off buying a little steam turbine and generating electricity directly off of the stove. On top of the electricity, you get to keep the heat.

Or, better yet, buy a propane tank and a suitably large generac. Then pipe the cooling water into radiators in the house.

Post reply on HN