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Heat pumps twice as efficient as fossil fuel systems in cold weather, study finds (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/technology@beehaw.org
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https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(23)00351-3

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[–] 7 points 3 years ago (5 children)

In this context is a "heat pump" the same thing as an inverter air conditioner?

A split system.

That's what most of Australia uses and looks like the pic but Ive never heard them called a heat pump.

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  • [–] 14 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    A split system AC is a heat pump in any context. So is a refrigerator. They're all the same technology that move energy via a refrigerant's latent heat by compressing it into a warm part and letting it expand into a cold part.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Yeah, for some reason we renamed them to heat pump.

    I suppose they can also be used to slowly heat water as well as the air, which is the main difference.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago

    I like "heat pump". It's a very nice ELI5 name. It's a pump for heat. A water pump takes water and forces it to where it wouldn't go naturally. A heat pump does the same.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    For larger homes with central heating and radiators inverter air conditioners aren't really a great solution - they are expensive (especially when you don't have/need an air conditioner in the first place), unsightly and work for more or less just one room. A heat pump is a generic term for a multitude of things, but as a replacement for central heating you'd most likely have just one outdoor unit that spews cold air and inside you'd have a large heat exchanger where you warm up the water for your central heating (and possibly warm water in general for showering and the like).

    It's pretty amazing.

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