wrote in message
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Doctor Drivel wrote:
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If so then you have
discovered a source of free energy which could make fossil fuel,
nuclear power etc all redundant!! There must be a catch.

Yep. You don't understand.

http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/how_it...nditioner.html

No it seems I don't understand. I know how a fridge/air con works but
if the OP's kit produces more heat than the energy input then it
should
be a matter of simple engineering to make the apparatus power itself
and produce heat with no energy input at all - explain!

Heat pumps do not generate heat; they move heat from one location to
another. Heat is moved from the outside air, water or the ground into
buildings for heating and DHW. On average heat pumps consume one third
of
the electricity of electric resistance heaters. Sounds good so far.

Heat is found in what most people would regard as cool or cold points.
Even
on a very cold day there is heat energy in the outside air. The
temperature
of air would need to be absolute zero, -273C, for no heat energy to be
available. On a freezing -1C day, the air temperature is -272C above
absolute zero. 20C is 293C degrees above absolute zero. So, a heat pump
only
has to raise heat a relatively small amount; the refrigeration cycle
does
this.

A heat pump is a large refrigerator compressor. The compressor raises
the
pressure of the refrigeration gas and subsequently the gas temperature.
Heat
energy is concentrated by the compressor. The absorber has a similar
function to an icebox in a fridge, absorbing heat, being either an
outside
air-to-air radiator, a buried pipe in the ground or a water-to-water
heat
exchanger in a stream or pond. The emitter, performs a similar function
to
the warm pipes at the back of a fridge, is the hot water storage vessel,
heat distribution pipework or ductwork heater battery inside a house.

Heat pumps may incorporate reversible compressors to provide cooling ,
typically incorporated within a forced air ventilation system. Generally
in
temperate climate UK, heat pumps are only capable of providing comfort
cooling rather than full cooling, as heating is the prime function.
Cooling
is unnecessary in the UK if proper insulation, ventilation and shading
is
fitted. In other countries heat pumps may provide full cooling.

The cooling aspect of heat pumps offends environmentalists, who frown on
summer cooling using fossil fuel as the root power source. Although a
heat
pump can theoretically recover maybe 7 kilowatts from every kilowatt
used,
the overall efficiency from power station to recovered heat is around
30%.

Does this mean 30% as against 700%, i.e. still a gain but small?

Gas is about 1/4 to 1/3 cheaper than electricity per kW to buy. Heat
pumps
on average are 1/3 cheaper to run than electric resistance heaters,
bringing
them "near" to the running cost of gas. Electricity from power station
to
point of burn is about 30% efficient, because of latentent heat and line
losses. So, may as well burn natural gas at point of use, which is
about
86% efficient using the 100% scale. Gas overall is cleaner, cheaper to
install and run.

Gas fridges are not uncommon - why can't gas be used directly in heat
pumps?

They are slow to operate and recover.

What about my point that apparatus with net power gain could power
itself and produce heat with no energy input at all?

A Perpetual Motion Machine. No one has managed that yet.

A heat pump can output more energy than what it takes to operate (in fact it
only moves heat). But the problem is changing the heat it outputs (energy)
back to a form of energy that can turn the heat pump. The energy state
change from heat to electricity saps up any surplus energy. You have the
notion of a heat operated heat pump. The output of the heat pumps is not
hot enough to drive an absorption refrigeration system.

A machine that outputs more than what it takes to run, is referred to
over-unity. A heat pump is not over-unity as it "moves" heat.

If I have a 100 litre cylinder full of 80C water and another cylinder cold,
I could run a small cheap pump to move the hot water from one cylinder to
the other. That is a quite a bit of heat energy that the pump has moved for
little energy input to run the pump. The heat moved in reality is not the
pump output, although it appears that way.