• mkwt@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      <for those who are uninitiated in the black arts of HVAC, “reverse cycle heat pump” is a fancy way to say “air conditioner”. The headline makes no sense as written. A “heat pump” is just an air conditioner that you turned around so it cools down the outside and heats up your house.>

      • spidermanchild@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        The headline absolutely makes sense for the US market. The default terminology in the HVAC industry here is that an air conditioner provides cooling, and a heat pump provides heating and cooling. It’s really that simple and correct in this case, as that’s the common understanding in the industry.

        Obviously other countries, thermodynamics textbooks, and other applications like refrigeration use different terminology. But holy shit it’s not that hard and we don’t need to get all pedantic using definitions from other industries that don’t apply to this narrow topic.

      • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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        5 months ago

        It is exactly that. “Heat pump” is the term used for an air conditioner that can run both ways, it can pump heat from inside out in the summer, and from outside in in the winter. An “Air conditioner” only runs one way.

      • ryannathans@aussie.zone
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        5 months ago

        Essentially an air conditioner that can very efficently both heat and cool rather than just do one