If the world was going to end in one year (for everyone) how would you spend that time?

At the risk of going off on a tangent; your post has triggered a thought.

If an airsource heat pump can cool a house, what's to prevent it cooling a smaller place to a cooler temp? Like say, a fridge. Do airsource heat pumps use gas at all?

 

Yes we are in the end times now!!!

 

They do use it, and the fundamental mechanism of action is probably the same, I guess, the refrigerator exchanging the heat within the room environment and being more efficient due to a well isolated small and contained space.

 

Same system. The actual heat pump capacity of a refrigerator / freezer is pretty small, though, less than 1000btu. It took like an entire day for my new fridge to cool down....they pretty much depend on the contents for bulk, keeping it cool when it's open and in between cycles. Their capacity is finely matched with the losses so it runs most of the time. New units don't really use that much energy, according to all the labels - I didn't really believe it, but I stuck a watt-hour meter on it , and it's true... I had the General Electric service guy come next day, since the genius guys on the delivery truck sliced the water line opening the box - nice guy, been in the business for over 20 years..."yeah, there's no more "grandma's old fridge" running for 50 years....new units will last 7-10 years if you're lucky"....which is pretty disappointing....plus the last one's compressor croaked about a month after the 7 year warranty....do NOT buy LG's units with the "linear compressor"....there are a number of class action lawsuits about it...

 

Go to Japan

 

I suspect if everyone was aware this was going to happen, it would be global chaos, societies would crumble, lawlessness would ensue, and basic necessities would be hard to come by.

Therefore, you'll find me in the middle of combat against several desperate people fighting for whatever scraps are left in some dingy abandoned truck stop on a highway, swinging a chainsaw on a rope as I massacre any fool who comes towards me.

Those Slim Jims are mine!

OooOoooo'YyeeeeaAAAaa!! DIG IT!!

 

The history and development of refrigeration is very interesting. A few theatres and public buildings used water as the refrigerant in the early days, but so save the need for positive pressure condensing it, the evaporator was pumped to atmosphere. Scale from the evaporated water was a major problem, as was pumping water vapor corroding the compressors.
Before the days when electricity was available in every household, absorption was used, where heat was used to drive ammonia from ammonium chloride, and as it reabsorbed a vacuum was created. They we driven by a gas flame the size of a candle flame. They became popular in caravans, until cases where the flame blew out resulting in a gas explosion. They were also below unity efficiency.
Commercially, the system was ran by utilising the steam from steam boilers on its way to the condensate system. Configured this way, their was zero running cost.

Regarding heat pumps, one of the most interesting systems heated the Royal Festival Hall in London following its construction in 1953. The evaporators were in the bed of the river and relied on the reversing coefficient of cubic expansion of water before it freezes. (hot water rises, but ice floats)
My late father was one of the design engineers.

 

Spend time with family.

 

I would have sex with as many women as I could