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.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is holding an accordion-shaped device in his hands, in the compressed state. He is walking towards an open door, while keeping the device compressed, as indicated with movement lines around it and his hands and arm. The door and the wall it is attached to are white, and the floor and the two steps down to the ground, as well as the ground outside, are black. But the inside of the house has light red shade, and so does the device. And outside the background is light blue.]

:[The panel has panned to the right so less of the inside of the house and more outside the house can be seen. Cueball has already closed the door and walked down the steps, but he is still walking a bit away from the house, while continuing to force the device to keep contracted. The colors inside and outside are the same as in the first panel, and the device is also still the same light red color, but now this is in contrast to the light blue background.]

:[Same setting as previous panel. Cueball has stopped just a pace out from the stairs. Here he extends the device holding his hands far apart. This turns the inside of the device blue, clearly darker 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, but has kept the device in the same outstretched position. And now the device has turned back to light blue, matching the color of the background.]

:[The panel has panned back to the original setting showing more of the inside of the house. Cueball is walking in through the open door, the device is still light blue and outstretched between his hands that are kept far apart.]

:[Same setting as previous panel. Cueball stops just inside. He has closed the door. He squeezes the device between his hands, using 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 red, clearly 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 a bit away from him. It is clearly glowing with many red lines emanating away from it in all directions. Although the inside of the device is still darker than the light red color inside the house, it is already here clearly a lighter red than in the previous panel. 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 clearly darker red than in all the previous panels. The device has the same color as the inside background. The light blue background outside has not changed through the panels.]

:[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]]