… just hang it from the window, plug it in, and you’re ready to go.
intercst
Where does the condensate go that accumulates inside the apartment?
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It likely gets siphoned to the rear of the unit and drips outside the window. But that’s a good question. I have one of those portable air conditioners where you just have a duct you attach to the window and the whole machine sits inside the home. There’s a condensate drain on that, and you have to place a drip pan to collect it.
intercst
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Another question was the outside air temperature.
How low are these units effective? Our new American Standard Heatpump unit we added to our furnace reverts to the gas furnace when the outside temp drops below 40°F…
Tough to do for a window unit… Maybe need to see it in regular units, maybe need an update!
Answered my own question:
The main innovation of this challenge is the cold climate heat pump technology that will allow consumers to use this unit to heat their spaces down to -13°F, which is significantly lower than current window heat pump options,” Schultz said. “To start, we’ve used our experience in mini-splits and the DOE Cold Climate Heat Pump Challenge to incorporate technology like vapor-injection compressors to aid in low-temp heat pump heating.
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One thing that was glossed over in the article is that in NYC many buildings are heated by central steam. The problem with central steam is that it is a real pain to distribute heat evenly to the tenants, the result is tons of wasted heat.
You can see this for yourself by simply walking down the street in any big city in the middle of winter and look up at the windows. You can’t walk more than half a block or so without seeing an open window. Once you’ve trained yourself to look for open windows you’ll see them everywhere in the winter.
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These units are specially engineered for New York City’s climate (i.e., possible to have near 0 degree F days in the Winter, 100 in the Summer.) They’re not cheap. Even with a bulk purchase of 30,000 units, NYC is paying over $2,000/each.
Basically cold climate heat pumps use a more expensive refrigerant with a lower boiling point. The ones they use in Minnesota are good all the way down to -13F and still supply 80% of rated heating capacity at those outside temperatures. Not good news for natural gas producers.
intercst
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It’s not just NYC. Lots of triple decker homes in New England. (Landlord lives on the first floor with the only thermostat, then rents out 2nd and 3rd floor apartments. Often the only way the 3rd floor resident can control temperature in the Winter is to open all the windows.
intercst
Absolutely. That’s why I said to walk down the street in any big city in winter. Look up and you will see open windows.
If you look at the cost of venting heated air to the atmosphere vs. only supplying the heat you need, these $2000 heat pumps start to look cost effective pretty quickly.
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From the article:
New York Power Authority shelled out the initial $70 million in financing for the first 30,000 heat pumps. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority put in another $13 million for the demonstration phase of the project.
Buying volume means lower prices once the production facility is running consistently at higher volumes. With the plan to buy 150+K units, never mind possible (likely) orders from other organizations nationwide, if the units perform reasonably. Operational costs likely less then a centralized system with the associated distribution problems. Plus, a central system normally does not have a way to cool units in the summer. Given the average increase in temps worldwide, it is likely AC will be required to be provided as it is not really an option in terms of health and safety.
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Midea and Gradient have contracts to supply units to NY City. Both plan on marketing their units to consumers in 2024.
intercst
Ahh, makes more sense to this moderate, coastal, NorCal guy… rare we get into he teens, never negative temps, so at our 40 degree system, we still have to rely on natural gas at times… Still learning…
Local weather reports (MN) say we will have a daily HIGH TEMP below freezing on turkey day. Low temp in AM will be in the teens.
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The condensate is on the cold side of a heat pump/air conditioner. So for these heaters, its on the outside.
@intercst had one idea. The other option is to use that condensate to humidify the heated air in the apartment. In other words, help it evaporate.
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But when it is operating as an AC the condensate is on the inside unit. I’ve thought about this more, and I expect there is a small pump that dumps the water to the outside of the building.
That’s possible. It’s also possible the water is moved to the hot side (when cooling, that’s the on the outside) and again left to evaporate in the excess heat. I’m not sure you want tens of thousands of heat pumps dumping water down the outside of buildings.
My central AC has a condensate pump that dumps the water outside, but directly onto the ground, not down the side of my home.
–Peter
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In NYC, the old style window A/C units dumped condensed water down the outside for decades (and still does). Every NYer knew that you don’t walk too close to the buildings in the summer months unless you want to be dripped on.
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The dipping condensate from the A/C is probably cleaner than the New York City rain.
intercst
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