Heat seeks cold

Share with us your alternative energy ideas and projects. Tell us about your experiments, no matter how far-fetched they may seem.

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I keep scratching my head, looking for a more efficient way to heat. I keep referring to that simple formula -- heat seeks cold. Basically that means that during the winter, the cold weather has no desire to come in your warm home. Instead, the heat in your home has a great desire to get out into the cold.

Then look at how a split-system air conditioner works. The a-coil in your furnace gets cold, which attracts heat. That heat is pumped to your outside condenser unit and dispersed into the air. The heat is removed from your home, so your home becomes cool. Reverse the process, and you have a heat pump.

But as I scratch my head, I wonder if there's a more efficient way of dispersing the heat? Is there a way to keep the heat you already made in your home? Instead of the heat seeking leaking windows and doors, is there a way for the heat to seek something even colder inside the home; therefore, preventing the heat from going outside? My thinking is that the inside cold source would be made from outside cold air. The cold would be insulated from entering the home, but yet it would almost 'magnetize' the heat from leaving the home.

Anyway, I know I'm babbling and I probably lost most of you. But maybe somebody will read this and think -- hey, that's thinking outside of the box!

Mark
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My babbling in the previous post gets me to thinking about a heat pump inside the house. Generally, a heat pump works by removing the heat from the outside air and bringing it inside the home. OK, instead of removing a little heat from already cold outside air, why not simply remove the cold from the inside air and send the cold outside! In essence, a heat pump inside the home. Like taking a window air conditioner and sticking it in backwards! But I'm sure there's good reasons this won't work or most likely it would already be done because the thought isn't rocket science.

Mark
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You can't stop it, only show it down with insulation so here is what i suggest, since thats the case why not figure out some way to put it to work, I know although expensive there are pelter divices that use that, and that could generate electricity, I had one came in an igloo picnic cooler, but i am wondering if there are other cheaper ways to use that to our advantage?


JES
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I know this is on a small scale but I've had a cooler/heater that runs on 12V for years. I thought it was a Koolatron but the name says Coolmaster CH-12. Can't find any info but the Koolatron site has newer models that draw 3-4.5 Amps. 12V. Only moving part in mine is a small fan. I used it in my car and at the cottage on the PV panel.
Here is an explanation of the principle used.

WHAT IS THERMOELECTRIC REFRIGERATION?

"Refrigeration is the process of pumping heat energy out of an insulated chamber in order to reduce the temperature of the chamber below that of the surrounding air. Thermoelectric refrigeration uses a principle called the "PELTIER" effect to pump heat electronically. The Peltier effect is named after a French scientist who discovered it in 1834..

HOW DOES IT WORK?

In 1834 Jean Peltier noted that when an electrical current is applied across the junction of two dissimilar metals, heat is removed from one of the metals and transferred to the other. This is the basis of thermoelectric refrigeration.................."

Manitoba Bill
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Hi Bill, thats the same thing i was talking about, i tore mine apart and found a pelter in it a fan and heatsinkss, Now if you put one side of that in cold air and the other side in hot air it will make some electricity, they can be used in to make cold, make heat, or make electricity, unfortunatetly last i checked they were expensive, maybe i'll check later and see if there price has dropped.

JES
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To quote a line from a movie, "He's thinking outside the box that the box came in!" But that's how great minds work! Greg
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