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> Aren't heat pumps the same as air conditioning? I have one not even remotely
by easytiger 3y ago
> Aren't heat pumps the same as air conditioning? I have one
not even remotely
- seydor 3y agoI ma fairly sure that in europe A/C and heat pumps are the same (cooling/heating)
- easytiger 3y agoThen you are incorrect
- brianwawok 3y agoThat’s a stretch.
- easytiger 3y agoDo explain
- SkyPuncher 3y agoThey’re actually nearly identical in concept. An air conditioner is actually just a one-way heat pump. The major difference is heat pumps can run in reverse.
- OGWhales 3y agoActually an AC unit is a heat pump, just a one directional one that moves the heat outside.
- throwaway173738 3y agoIt depends. Window or floor units that are portable are not usually heat pumps. They use a different cycle with the refrigerant. Ductless splits and central air are often heat pumps.
- empyrrhicist 3y agoHow so? Anything using vapor compression refrigeration should technically qualify as a heat pump. They may not move the heat as far, but that shouldn't matter. A swamp cooler isn't a heat pump, but the units you describe would seem to me to obviously qualify.
- amluto 3y agoYou can buy portable window heat pumps from several companies. They’ve been around for a while.
- vel0city 3y agoSure, there might be some in some markets, but when I go to the store around here practically none of them are heat pumps. They're rare to find shopping around for some reason. Like, look at this list. How many will heat? Probably none. https://www.lowes.com/pl/Window-air-conditioners-Room-air-conditioners-Air-conditioners-fans-Heating-cooling/3788568798 https://www.lowes.com/pl/Window-air-conditioners-Room-air-co... I can walk into a dozen stores selling window AC units around me with hundreds in stock ready to go today. If I want one with heat near me, I'll have to custom order online. Thus, the vast majority of window AC units you'll encounter in most of the US are cooling-only unless the person knew they could order one which does heat from someplace else online.
- amluto 3y agoHome Depot seems to carry the LG window heat pumps in stores. I do agree that it’s odd that most units can’t heat and that the heat pumps are so poorly advertised.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- nbadg 3y ago> They use a different cycle with the refrigerant. No, every major consumer air conditioner and every major consumer heat pump on the market that I'm aware of uses the same cycle (the vapor compression cycle). The only difference between a vapor compression cycle AC and a vapor compression cycle heat pump is which of the two loops is being used as a heat sink and which as a heat source. You could in theory do this by simply reversing the flow direction in the refrigerant loop, but in practice the better approach is to do the same thing with valves, allowing the compressor to always operate with the same flow direction. It's important to distinguish between the heat pump itself and the heat exchange medium used to transport that heat into a given space though. If you try to connect a heat pump meant to replace a radiator system in an old (or european) dwelling, the radiators we're really designed for cooling, and you may have performance issues. But that has nothing to do with the heat pump itself.