xkcd #3099: Neighbor-Source Heat Pump

Title text:

The installation of the pipes on the inside of the insulation can be challenging, especially when the neighbor could come home at any minute.

Transcript:

[Two houses are shown next to each other. They have almost identical facades with a base, two windows on either side of a door and a chimney to the right on the roof. But next to the left house there is a small box with two light-blue pipes going from the house to the box. From the bottom of the box two similar light-blue pipes goes a bit down under ground, the left further than the right, and then they bend to the right and goes under the neighboring house to the right. The upper pipe closest to the ground is shown to enter the wall of the right house, going almost up to the roof, and then bending sharply around going down below ground. Then it goes under ground to the other side of the house and do the same in the right wall, going up and down. Where it goes under ground, it connects to the the other pipe that has gone all the way straight under the house.]

[Caption below the panel:]
A covertly-installed Neighbor-Source Heat Pump takes advantage of the fact that your neighbor keeps their house cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3099/

explainxkcd for #3099

    • Barbarian@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      29·
      11 days ago

      Ground floor apartment here. Winter is hell, the storage area in the basement below us is unheated, so the apartment feels like Siberia. Summer is glorious though, nice and cool even in the middle of the most brutal heatwave.

    • BCsven@lemmy.caEnglish
      25·
      11 days ago

      Same. We live between two floors. Heat rarely is put on, because stove, fridge and dishwasher are enough to supplement what the sandwiched apartments floors already provide

      • mojofrododojo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        10 days ago

        We live between two floors.

        I saw this in Being John Malkovich but didn’t realize it was a thing in real life. So, like, you live on the 9 1/2 floor or something?

        • BCsven@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          9 days ago

          Ha. Meaning we aren’t ground floor or top floor, we are sandwiched between two other floors. Barely need to add heat aince we share all the heat that the building has

    • duhbasser@lemm.eeEnglish
      13·
      11 days ago

      Yea for real. I live on the middle-ish levels (10-17th floors) and never use the heat. Winter time, my apartment gets heat from the lower areas and sun is hitting my windows from sun rise to sun down, so I actually have to turn on the A/C in the winter cause it’ll get to 75-78. Summer time, the sun is higher up in the sky so it doesn’t shine directly into the apartment so the A/C gets a break.

      That all said, fucking Spring and Fall are a bitch cause the sun is shining directly into my eyes, so I gotta shift around during the day and I gotta adjust the A/C like every hour, cause I’m too hot or too cold

    • BigBananaDealer@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      10 days ago

      mine sucked, hot as fuck in summer and the air conditioner was so loud you couldnt hear a regular conversation

  • notabot@piefed.socialEnglish
    37·
    10 days ago

    Jeeniouss!

    So, heat pumps are more than 100% efficient, in that they move more heat than the energy needed to run them. Therefore, the neighbour should also install this system, creating a closed system that keeps both houses warm at better than 100% efficiency. I think this might solve all our energy needs, and global warming in one go. Tsk, to think the so called scientists have been trying to get fusion working when this solution is already practical.

    • 843563115848@lemmy.zipEnglish
      3·
      10 days ago

      Fantastic! The actual perpetual motion machine has finally been found. And all this time, I thought it would need magnets, which are also magical. But I guess all those motors in the heat pumps use magnets too.