In fact both cycles require an external energy input, which is wasted in aircon but adds to the heating effect used as a warming pump. And both have terrible efficiency due to the small difference between heat source and sink.
Your comment about perceived temperature is spot on. The air coming out of the vents has a small wind chill effect, which means it can feel colder than ambient. But if you want it significantly warmer than ambient, the efficiency drops rapidly. A heat pump that produces a feeling of warmth by providing a small volume of air at 30C requires more power than one producing 20C even though heat output is the same.
Living where we do, I only need a 12kW condensing heater to warm the house at outside temperatures down to about -10C, and around freezing temperatures it’s running at about 30% duty cycle, so really a heat pump would have terrible payback for no perceived benefit (the heater is about 80% efficient, whereas using electricity to drive a heat pump would have a net efficiency around 160% allowing for generation and transmission losses, and at our price per kW delivered would actually cost more to run).
I never went to summer camp, but in 8th grade, I went to winter camp. 30 miles south and east of Ely. It was later in January, though, which is normally colder than now. This year it’s colder. Be careful, and have fun!
Windex is a mixture and probably has quite a complicated phase diagram, though it should be first order. Assuming one of the components is isopropanol as per Wikipedia, there will be some liquid down to -89C. So unless you visit northern Siberia in the winter, it won’t fully crystallise.
Well, the snow fell down without my help, I’m afraid
And my lawn got white though I’ve withheld my consent
When this gray world crumbles like a cake
I’ll be hangin’ from the hope
That I’ll never clear my driveway again
As I drive, I think about a new way to slide
As I think, I’m using up the time to fishtail
And this truck keeps slippin’ down the road
Tryin’ to act like something else
Tryin’ to go where it’s been uninvited
It’s just a snowday
It’s one today
It’s just a snowday so why do I have to go to work?
Surprise Snow Day.
Two to three inches of the white stuff fell and my wife needed the Subaruba so I took my Trusty 2WD Fnord F-150 in today. Not as bad as it could have been as the plows had been out, but There were some fun corners.
I’m going to admit to stupidity.
Some years ago we actually had enough snow to put ice on the road. No problem; put tyre chains on front wheels, set off. After about a mile I notice the rear end is a bit loose, when going round a bend. A rather exciting near-180 degree rotate. Stop to investigate.
Yes, I forgot to release the handbrake.
Worse words to hear? Upon getting home after driving 1 1/2 hours in a white-out snow storm: “I forgot my laptop and need it for school tomorrow morning.”
(Same general area, although our drive was through the “snow belt of Indiana” into Chicago.)
And that is the one thing I feel is great about “The Cloud” and its ancillary technologies.
Forgot your laptop? Just log on with mine.
Happily my work shuts down early if snow is predicted for the rush hour, so I made it home in just about normal time. (Praise be Waze and the routes it does provide)
Michigan City can be utterly terrifying this time of year. Unless you enjoy not being able to see 10’ in front of you. People are weird, there’s got to be someone out there who likes that sort of thing.
