Comment by dopylitty | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dopylitty | Hacker News Reader

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This guy[0] has done quite a few deep dives on heat pumps that cover a lot of the myths (eg they don't work in the cold). It's pretty interesting material if you're thinking about a heat pump.

It has always seemed silly to me that we spend money to keep a box of cold (fridge) inside the houses we're spending money to heat in the winter and spend a lot of money to heat up dryers, stoves, etc in the houses we're spending money to cool in the summer.

Watching these videos made me think there's a real possibility at some point to have something like a whole home heat pump that just moves heat from where it is to where you want it and in the process reduces the need for systems working against each other to heat/cool specific parts of the house. I understand there's something in commercial settings that has this capability but I'm blanking on the name.

0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J52mDjZzto&t=0s 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_refrigerant_flow

My parents have always had an "outdoor fridge" that is a stainless steel equipment box that my dad salvaged from the junk pile at work. They put food in there that is less prone to spoiling, and use it through the fall/winter/spring months.

That's a great way to keep the raccoons out!

If I make a big pot of soup in the winter I will cool it down outside before putting it in the fridge. That way it gets down below the zone where bacteria grow much faster than if it were inside.

From an energy perspective it would be better to put it in the fridge so the heat would be removed by the fridge and stay in the house rather than dissipated outside but as far as I know the heat would also end up in the other goods in the fridge causing potential spoilage. It would be nice to have some kind of remote chiller pot hooked to a heat pump that would just pump the heat out of the soup and into a cold room.

> heat pump that would just pump the heat out of the soup and into a cold room.

You already have one, it's your fridge ;)

Right! The problem is before the heat gets to the room it sits in the milk for a while and raises it to temperatures where bacteria like to be.

The fastest way to cool it is to put the pan in a sink with cold water. But since that water is probably freshly tapped and thus cold, you're not really regaining heat, but rather warming the outside (if you then flush it).

But I find fridges are pretty good at what they do. If it fits, you can put it in the freezer for half an hour first.

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