3 ms·
That's the same thing, no?
by shellfishgene 5mo ago
That's the same thing, no?
- masklinn 5mo agoIn the same way that an electric motor and a generator are the same thing.
- triceratops 5mo agoIn an EV they literally are.
- masklinn 5mo agoYes? But without the few bits and bobs of extra control for handling that condition they are, effectively, not. Same for AC and heat pumps.
- triceratops 5mo agoEVs have regenerative breaking and so come with those bits and bobs.
- masklinn 5mo agoBut not all electric motors are paired such. Which is the point: a heat pump and an AC are "the same thing" at the gross level, but that doesn't mean all ACs have all the bits and bobs necessary for them to act as heat pumps.
- gosub100 5mo agoI think they mean "air exchange" (split AC) vs "heat pump" (dig into the earth to draw/eliminate heat). Not saying that's the right definition though. I am guessing at an auto-correction of what they meant.
- ane 5mo agoA heat pump is not necessarily dug into the earth. Rather, the flow of the heat pump is moving heat (thermal energy) from outdoors to indoors or the other way around in an air conditioner. Depending on the direction of the coolant flow, you get either a indoor heating or cooling unit. This is best demonstrated by going in front of the outdoor unit of a heat pump, when they are cooling, the outdoor unit generates heat because it's compressing gas, which then is then expanded when it reaches the indoor unit, generating cold. Exactly like a refridgerator.
- ericd 5mo agoDug into the ground, we usually call a "ground source heat pump", or less accurately, "geothermal". The normal split systems are "air source heat pumps". AC is a heat pump without a reversing valve.
- dzhiurgis 5mo agoThere's also air-to-water retrofits for houses where you had centralised gas/wood heaters and water radiators.
- crote 5mo agoIt needs some extra valves to switch the flow of coolant around, but yes.
- dzhiurgis 5mo agoSome refrigerants are more suited for cold climates, some of which require very high pressures.
- seydor 5mo agosplit a/c (heat/cooling) is dirt cheap compared to the cost of heat pump installation