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[–] 3 points 2 years ago (3 children)

In my country, air conditioners can condition air that's too cold. Sounds like American air conditioners can only condition in one direction. Our air conditioners do all of the air conditioning.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    No we have both, and they're still heat pumps. The direction the heat pumped is irrelevant; the fundamentals are the same.

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  • [–] -2 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Yes, air conditioners and heat pumps are indeed the same thing. Americans just don't call the two-directional heat pumps air conditioners for some reason. I guess they don't believe you can condition air by making it hotter. In my country, we consider heating part of conditioning.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    We call it HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning), and so do other countries that speak English for a reason. It’s different from heating in that air conditioning can also involve controlling air humidity/quality.

    Heating gets its own because until reversible heat pumps, it was a separate system that only heated the building (sometimes not even the air directly in the case of heated floors).

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