Most of us will have a micro wave oven where we can by adding energy, heat something up to a very hot temperature in a matter of seconds. Just a thought, wouldn't it be great if we also has a device that could subtract energy & cool down something to a few degrees in a matter of seconds too?

 

Yes, but it's a physical impossibility.  We can't create cold with electricity.  It takes a large amount of 'infrastructure' to create the change of state that removes heat, as opposed to actually creating cold.

I've been trying to work out a way to freeze water pipes quickly, repeatedly, and for as long as I want, without using those short term, single use canisters of freezer spray.  Haven't come up with anything so far! 🤔

(PS - We don't all have a microwave btw, never have trusted them myself!  )

11 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

It takes a large amount of 'infrastructure' to create the change of state that removes heat

Not strictly true. Peltier devices can pump heat from one surface to the other simply with the application of an electrical potential. Typical application is a cool box that can be plugged into a cigar lighter socket.

Interestingly they're also reversible just by reversing the voltage.

10 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

(PS - We don't all have a microwave btw, never have trusted them myself!  )

LOL, that's why I stated, 'most', I seem to remember your fear of them from a post ages ago. In the 1940s, the principal of a microwave was sheer science fiction. The fact that you could have a device to excite water molecules that much that they would bombard each other creating heat was just fanciful. I'm just hoping that in the future, we'll have a similar device that will extract the motion of same atoms to slow down to such a state they'll be cold LOL 

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Just a thought, wouldn't it be great if we also has a device that could subtract energy & cool down something to a few degrees in a matter of seconds too?

Out of curiosity do you have something in mind that you want to quickly cool ?

A quick dunk in liquid nitrogen is good for turning most things instantly in to  ice-pops 🤣

4 minutes ago, unofix said:

Out of curiosity do you have something in mind that you want to quickly cool ?

A quick dunk in liquid nitrogen is good for turning most things instantly in to  ice-pops 🤣

Much more mundane I'm afraid. If I put a can of pop in the fridge, or for those that drink, beer (!), it'll be chilled in a few hours. Wouldn't it be great if you could put it in you 'anti' microwave and have it chilled in 30 seconds?

Sounds like a cool idea....

Something for future discovery maybe, but the whole universe tends towards heat, so it's always going to be more difficult going the other way.

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Yes, but it's a physical impossibility.  We can't create cold with electricity.  It takes a large amount of 'infrastructure' to create the change of state that removes heat, as opposed to actually creating cold.

I've been trying to work out a way to freeze water pipes quickly, repeatedly, and for as long as I want, without using those short term, single use canisters of freezer spray.  Haven't come up with anything so far! 🤔

(PS - We don't all have a microwave btw, never have trusted them myself!  )

RothenBerger have been making pipe freezing kits for years

8 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

If I put a can of pop in the fridge, or for those that drink, beer (!), it'll be chilled in a few hours.

So whats needed is someone to adapt the method used by a Baby Bottle cooler. My daughter has one for her baby and it works very well. You can pour boiling water in to it, and two minutes later the temperature is about 22^oC

Just need one that a can of pop (or beer) fits inside. Looks like a project for the 'Apprentice' and Amstrad 😉

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nuby-RapidCool-Portable-Prepare-Dispenser/dp/B09VH5PCCJ/ref=sr_1_16?c=ts&keywords=Bottle%2BWarmers%2B%26%2BCoolers&qid=1682677744&s=baby&sr=1-16&ts_id=60198031&th=1

25 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

the whole universe tends towards heat

I'm not sure that's true (conservation of energy and all that). I think the universe tends towards equilibrium, i.e. hot things tend to cool down and cold things tend to warm up.

7 minutes ago, alanfp said:

I'm not sure that's true (conservation of energy and all that). I think the universe tends towards equilibrium, i.e. hot things tend to cool down and cold things tend to warm up.

I just mean that everything usually ends up as heat. Anything you do gives off waste heat. So it's always more difficult to cool than heat.

2nd law of thermodyanmics is that heat is always trying to move to colder objects.

Heat death of the universe, etc.

1 hour ago, MarksST said:

RothenBerger have been making pipe freezing kits for years

Thanks for that.  I'd seen their disposable can kits but not the electric version. 

Shame they're too large & expensive to be used privately.  Need something no larger than the disposable kits myself.

2 hours ago, StephenFord said:

Much more mundane I'm afraid. If I put a can of pop in the fridge, or for those that drink, beer (!), it'll be chilled in a few hours. Wouldn't it be great if you could put it in you 'anti' microwave and have it chilled in 30 seconds?

I'd like to do that with a glass of tap water in summer.  Lukewarm tap water in summer heat makes me gag!  Can't be bothered with the hassle of filling and washing up a water filter jug to keep in the fridge.  Currently buy bottles of water to keep in the fridge over summer for ease.

5 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Currently buy bottles of water to keep in the fridge over summer for ease.

... and then hopefully refill them from the tap and then put back in the fridge @ 0.2 p per 500ml bottle. 

1 minute ago, alanfp said:

... and then hopefully refill them from the tap and then put back in the fridge @ 0.2 p per 500ml bottle. 

No.  They can't be washed effectively.  (Same problem as the filter jugs then).  I buy the 1500ml bottles as they fit in the fridge door. 

Cost isn't important by then, I'm just in 'do whatever to get through the heat' phase!

59 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Thanks for that.  I'd seen their disposable can kits but not the electric version. 

Shame they're too large & expensive to be used privately.  Need something no larger than the disposable kits myself.

 

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Thanks for that.  I'd seen their disposable can kits but not the electric version. 

Shame they're too large & expensive to be used privately.  Need something no larger than the disposable kits myself.

They’re not that big and you can hire them.

22 minutes ago, MarksST said:

They’re not that big and you can hire them.

Good to know, though I can't get to any hire places personally.  (Still unable to drive) 

I've got an unvented hot water tank that needs the air bubble regenerating every other month.  Wrong system for this flat really, taps are much higher than the bottom of the tank so it doesn't gravity bleed properly.  And being in a very hard water area, limescale has damaged the seal in the tank so the air bubble doesn't last long.  Trouble is the screwdriver isolator next to the tank has seized up now, and the mains tap isn't accessible so I've got no way to carry out the regen.  I just want something small that I can store easily and re-use every 6-8 weeks to close off the mains for 45-60mins while draining the tank down.  Haven't come across anything suitable so far.

If I owned the place I'd have a proper 'handle' style isolator fitted on an accessible pipe (or a different system altogether) but I'm limited by renting unfortunately.

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

I'd like to do that with a glass of tap water in summer...

This is my 2 liter water jug (unfiltered) just for tap water I keep in a 3c fridge, yummy!

not read thru it all but did read the first few. My landlord is going gung ho on ground source heat pumps which i beleive act like a fridge in reverse but can also in hot climes push cool not sure about cold air. They run to your properties thermostat so whatever you select it will deliver.

3 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Good to know, though I can't get to any hire places personally.  (Still unable to drive) 

I've got an unvented hot water tank that needs the air bubble regenerating every other month.  Wrong system for this flat really, taps are much higher than the bottom of the tank so it doesn't gravity bleed properly.  And being in a very hard water area, limescale has damaged the seal in the tank so the air bubble doesn't last long.  Trouble is the screwdriver isolator next to the tank has seized up now, and the mains tap isn't accessible so I've got no way to carry out the regen.  I just want something small that I can store easily and re-use every 6-8 weeks to close off the mains for 45-60mins while draining the tank down.  Haven't come across anything suitable so far.

If I owned the place I'd have a proper 'handle' style isolator fitted on an accessible pipe (or a different system altogether) but I'm limited by renting unfortunately.

Hire companies deliver

I'm sure one was shown on TV many years ago on April 1st, probably Tomorrow's World. 

My Father calls ours a microwave cooler, he puts a cup of coffee in the microwave to warm it up, then forgets about it, so when comes back it's stone cold! lol. 😆

On 4/28/2023 at 12:07 PM, alexp999 said:

Heat death of the universe, etc

That refers to the fact that over aeons of time the stars will die and the universe will cool down towards absolute zero.

True that heat will flow towards cold. Although heat may increase locally, over a large enough volume (of space) the trend is towards cooling.

23 minutes ago, mjt said:

True that heat will flow towards cold. ..

Reminds me of another question I posed on this forum, in that in a room at 20c, if you placed a glass of cool water (10C), and warm water (30c) which would reach room temperature first! 

No one offered a definitive scientific answer, but did offer lots of debate!

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

Reminds me of another question I posed on this forum, in that in a room at 20c, if you placed a glass of cool water (10C), and warm water (30c) which would reach room temperature first! 

No one offered a definitive scientific answer, but did offer lots of debate!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now my mind is off down the rabbit hole -- cheers