politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
Because "efficiency" here ill defined, 100% is not the most efficient a heater can be. Heat pumps move more heat than is needed to power them, are much more efficient than electric heaters, and have "efficiencies" well over 100%. Good ones have 400% "efficiency", in that 1 J consumed will put that 1 J into the the substance and move another 3 J from the environment (thus cooling the environment) into the substance.
If you use a heat pump water heater, it will help cool your house. In areas that cool in the summer, it's essentially free hot water. In the winter overall energy consumption to offset the cooling breaks even compared to an electric water heater.
Similarly, air source heat pumps are much more efficient than gas or electric furnaces for heating a building. They're comparable to a typical AC unit for cooling, as an AC unit is just a heat pump.
In many regions, ground source heat pumps are even more efficient for both heating and cooling, because the ground temperature is nearly constant and at a convenient temperature, so it serves as a huge source and sink of energy.
Correct. It seems bonkers at first glance that anything could have an efficiency over 100%, but in the case of heat pumps specifically for the use case of heating something (water, your house, etc.) the above is true, and you can achieve over 100% in that context.
One complaint I can predict about heat pump/reverse cycle water heaters is that they are not silent, whereas a resistive element one is. (Gas ones aren't silent either, though, so there's that.)
I have a hpwh and , when the coils aren’t leaking coolant (repaired twice under warranty) it works well. I keep it in a room that has the washer/dryer, spare fridge, icemaker, and my espresso machine - all devices which would work against my A/C in the summer. It keeps that area nice and cool. In the winter I shut off the hp and run it in resistance mode or it really cools the basement excessively (which I’d also where my home office is).
The only other drawback is that the heat pump is very noisy compared to, say, a refrigerator or a good mini split heat pump - the little fans they use on the exchanger just whine.