this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025
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[–] GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

heatpumps don't work below about -20C

I don't think that's true? There are cold weather models that can work at COPs > 1.5 at -30C. Are we talking about a sizing constraint for the model here, perhaps?

[–] foggenbooty@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There are, but then I think you'd have problems with the effective rang of the AC in the summer. To my knowledge this is all about at what temperature the coolant is a liquid and when it's a gas (because that's how you exchange heat).

A traditional AC only needs coolant that does this at summer temperatures. A heat pump tries to use one that will work at colder temperatures as well. A cold weather heat pump goes even further but I think there is a sacrifice in AC efficiency in the summer.

Somone please correct me if I'm wrong. But I'm not sure if a do-it-all extreme cold and extreme hot heat pump exists, and as a car manufacturer you want to put in the one that will fit most cases, as opposed to a house which only needs to operate in the range of the climate it is built in.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

It would make sense if the two stage heat pumps use different liquids in the different stages. I don't actually know how these are made, so I can't assert that this is how it works, but I would be surprised if it worked any other way.