3 ms·
Note that I'm not proposing a home generator, but using the gas combustion engine to directly power the heat pump compressor. Isn't that ass-backwards? You ca
by simonblack 3y ago
Note that I'm not proposing a home generator, but using the gas combustion engine to directly power the heat pump compressor.
Isn't that ass-backwards?
You can use the gas directly to run a heat pump . You're probably too young to remember kerosene fridges.
- m463 3y agoAre you talking about absorption refrigerators? I know RVs can have these based on ammonia that can refrigerate your food using propane or electricity. I thought they were not efficient at all, and used a different principle compared to a heat pump.
- simonblack 3y agoAre you talking about absorption refrigerators? That's another name for them. I thought they were not efficient at all, and used a different principle compared to a heat pump. The principle is different but very similar: a continuous cycle of pressurisation, followed by expansion where that part of the system takes in heat from the surroundings and making them cooler. Kerosene has an efficiency approx 90%, according to one site I read. Using gas lowers that efficiency to about 70%. (I don't know why the difference in efficiencies, I would have thought it would be the same, no matter the heat source.)