this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
608 points (97.9% liked)

Technology

58061 readers
31 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (18 children)

I've been considering replacing the central a/c in my house with a heat pump to handle home heating as well, but never thought about heating water that way also. That's interesting. Can you get a single heat pump system that does both?

Where water heating is concerned, I do know a guy who set up a solar water heater, and he made some compelling arguments for it. Like he considered rooftop solar panels initially to generate electricity, but opted for water heating instead. He pointed out that while electric panels are maybe 20% efficient, water heating is nearly 100% efficient, and his system works so well that it even needs to shut off every now and then to prevent overheating. Anyway, I'm not vouching for this personally since I have no experience with it, but I'm just throwing it out there another possible approach?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (6 children)

I don't think there's much for consumer single heat pump systems that do both. I've seen a few, especially with geothermal systems, but mostly it's just a tiny heat pump built into the cap of a traditional water heater.

Worth pointing out that the nature of a heat pump is that the housewide heat pump is first pumping warm air into the house to make it available for the water heater, which then pumps that warm air into the water. So it is just one big machine, fundamentally. Or, if your air conditioner is running, the water heater heat pump is adding some cooling to the space.

The criticism of the heat pump water heater: they're loud. A high frequency compressor buzz while operating. If you are switching to one, make sure it is located somewhere where the noise won't bother you. Mine is in a mechanical room in the middle of my house and it is annoying when operating -- I program it to run at night and close doors when going to bed. If I could do it over again, I'd put in in the (insulated) attic in spite of all the risks involved in that. More hot air available for it to use up there anyway.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

at my parents house the is a 14kw heat pump that does heating and water and it's not an industrial heat pump. you can get them from daikin, but they need three phase ac.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I would call anything that needs 3-phase to be "industrial". The number of residences with 3-phase would be in the low hundredths of a percent of homes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

3-phase 230V 16A is standard here. but you can get up to 30A if the wiring allows it. I've never seen a house with only 1 or 2-phase.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/three-phase-electric-power/

German 3-phase is at 400V, there is no such thing as 2-phase (you're probably thinking of split phase 110+110 as in NA). So I'd be practically certain your parents have single phase 230V.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

between neutral it's 230V.Between two phases it's 400V.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (15 replies)