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Yesterday I idly wondered why my (clothes) dryer has heating coils in it, instead of a heat pump based dehumidifier. The same amount of energy would generate the same amount of heat, in addition to ex (kbin.social)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Turns out someone patented the idea. Apparently writing down what a non-expert can come up with in two minutes of idle thought is worth a 20 year monopoly idea, and if that makes peoples appliances less efficient, well fuck them and fuck the planet.

The patent expires in 2025, maybe in a few years dryers will get a lot more efficient. Or maybe there is some non-obvious (to me) reason why it isn't a good idea, because someone patenting it doesn't mean it's a good idea, just that they wrote the obvious idea down.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@candyman337 I'm glad to know I'm not totally insane in thinking that a heat pump is a good idea here :)

It doesn't seem obvious to me that it should need to be slower, or that heat-pump needs to be synonymous with ventless. Venting hot moist air to the outside should still make sense...