How is it that a machine (like a heat pump) can consume 1kw of power and produce an amount greater than that of heat? What am I misunderstanding?
In: 320
“Explain how a heat pump works like I’m a 5-year-old:
A gnome pulls a little heat from cold outside air.
He dumps hot air inside house to heat it.
The gnome snacks on electricity to keep going.”
https://twitter.com/NicoleKelner/status/1562457925443936257/photo/1
The “gnome” is a refrigerant gas running in a loop. When it’s outside, it’s colder than the outside air. As the heat from the outside air flows into it, it begins to boil, going from a liquid to a gas. Much like when water boils, a lot of energy is going in, but the temperature isn’t changing at all, just the phase. The refrigerant is then compressed (using a pump powered by electricity) as it moves inside the house. Moving through the compressor heats up the refrigerant, and now it’s hotter than the inside air, so the heat flows from the refrigerant into the home. The refrigerant is then pumped back outside, and goes through an expansion process, cooling it back down again.
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