Editing 2790: Heat Pump

{{comic
| number    = 2790
| date      = June 16, 2023
| title     = Heat Pump
| image     = heat_pump_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x400px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = If I'm not going to upgrade to a powered one, I should at LEAST stop leaving the door open so often.
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|heat pump}} is a system which uses a refrigeration cycle to transfer heat from a relatively colder area (typically outdoors) to a relatively warmer space (usually the interior of a building). Such a system works by compressing a refrigerant gas in the warmer space. Gases tend to warm when compressed, and this allows heat to flow from the refrigerant into the surrounding air, which causes the refrigerant to condense into a liquid. This liquid then flows to external coils where the pressure is low enough that it can evaporate, causing the refrigerant to cool, which allowed heat to flow into the refrigerant from the cool environment. This gives the warmer space a constant source of heat, and the only energy cost is what's required to run the compressor. 

In this comic, [[Cueball]] has a ''manual'' heat pump, which appears to operate on the same principle, but uses only a bellows-type container (presumably filled with refrigerant), and is powered only by his own muscles. The strip denotes the warm area with light red coloring, and the cooler outdoors with light blue. When he carries the container outdoors, he allows it to expand, causing it to become colder than the surroundings (indicated by it becoming a darker blue). He then waits until it warms to near the surrounding temperature (the blue becomes less intense), and carries it inside, where he physically presses the container together. This causes the gas in the container to become hotter than the room (denoted by it becoming a darker red), and it's indicated to be radiating that heat into the room, which is the basic purpose of the whole exercise. The final panel shows him carrying the bellows outside, presumably to repeat the whole cycle. 

While this design is theoretically possible, and is a fun illustration of how heat pumps work, it obviously wouldn't be practical in real life (as suggested by the caption). This is true for a number of reasons. First, the pressure required would be difficult for a human to exert with their bare hands. Even if they could do so, they would quickly tire of the exertion, and be unable to sustain the process for very long. The person would need to hold the container shut while it was transferring heat to the environment, which would take significant time, particularly since the container doesn't have much surface area to transfer heat. Depending on the refrigerant, the container could become dangerously hot and/or dangerously cold, or at the very least, unpleasant to hold directly. And the person is physically moving both the container and their own body in and out of the house on every cycle which a) involves a great deal of unnecessary effort and b) means that the person has to spend a large amount of their time outside in the cold. Even if particularly strong and determined person tried to warm a house this way, with no regard for efficiency, the air transfer resulting from going in and out through the door would probably exceed the amount of warming on each cycle, meaning that it wouldn't warm the house significantly. This is lampshaded by the title text, which implies that Cueball leaves the door open some of the time, which would undo nearly all of the benefit of this process.  The logistics of opening and shutting a door when both hands are occupied is also unexplained.

While heat pumps do exist, and are increasingly adopted for building heating, an efficient design requires use of electric power, and a design that moves only the refrigerant from indoors to outdoors, rather than all of the equipment (and the person powering it). The joke is that this "manual" version is based on the same principle, but is wildly impractical.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is holding a compressed, accordion-like device. He is walking right outside, keeping the device compressed, as indicated with movement lines around it and his arms. The door and the wall it is attached to are white, while the floor, the two steps down to the ground, and the ground outside are black. The inside of the house has a light red shade, along with the device. The background outside is light blue.]

:[The panel has panned right to show more of the outside. Cueball has closed the door and walked down the steps, but is still walking away from the house, while continuing to keep the device contracted. The colors of the background and the device are the same as in the first panel.]

:[Same setting as previous panel. Cueball has stopped just a pace out from the stairs. Here he releases the pressure on the device, opening his arms to accommodate the size of the device. This turns the inside of the device a darker blue than the light blue background. Above Cueball is a description of what he did:]
:''Release''

:[Same setting as previous panel. Cueball looks behind him at the closed door, while the device has turned back to light blue, matching the color of the background.]

:[The panel has panned back to the original setting. Cueball is walking into the house. The device has not changed appearance.]

:[Same setting as previous panel. Cueball stops just inside. He has closed the door. He squeezes the device between his hands, using great force as indicated with movement lines around his elbows. The device is now as compressed as in the first panel, but now it has turned deep red, darker than the light red background inside the house. Above Cueball is a description of what he did:]
:''Squeeze''

:[Same setting as previous panel. Cueball looks at the door while holding the compressed device away from him. It is clearly glowing with many red lines radiating away from it. Although the inside of the device is still much darker than the light red color inside the house, it is a lighter red than before. Above Cueball is a description of what happens:]
:''Radiate''

:[Same setting as previous panel. Cueball is again walking out of the now open door. The color inside the house is now a darker red than in all the previous panels. The device has the same color as the inside. The background outside has not changed.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Manual heat pumps are such a pain.

==Trivia==
*This comic appearing on 16 June 2023, only a few days after a conversation in German media and politics about a [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/14/germany-coalition-staves-off-implosion-with-11th-hour-heating-law-amendment controversially drafted law] to regulate heating systems in homes and buildings.  
**It is possible this was an inspiration for this comic, although not very likely if it was only in German news.


{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]