this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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Yesterday I idly wondered why my (clothes) dryer has heating coils in it, instead of a heat pump based dehumidifier. The same amount of energy would generate the same amount of heat, in addition to ex (kbin.social)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Yesterday I idly wondered why my (clothes) dryer has heating coils in it, instead of a heat pump based dehumidifier. The same amount of energy would generate the same amount of heat, in addition to extracting water from the air making the clothes dry faster.

Turns out someone patented the idea. Apparently writing down what a non-expert can come up with in two minutes of idle thought is worth a 20 year monopoly idea, and if that makes peoples appliances less efficient, well fuck them and fuck the planet.

The patent expires in 2025, maybe in a few years dryers will get a lot more efficient. Or maybe there is some non-obvious (to me) reason why it isn't a good idea, because someone patenting it doesn't mean it's a good idea, just that they wrote the obvious idea down.

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[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yep:

https://reviewed.usatoday.com/laundry/features/everything-you-need-to-know-about-ventless-dryers

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@candyman337 I'm glad to know I'm not totally insane in thinking that a heat pump is a good idea here :)

It doesn't seem obvious to me that it should need to be slower, or that heat-pump needs to be synonymous with ventless. Venting hot moist air to the outside should still make sense...