Cooling/heating kW is not necessarily electrical energy used, the EER or COP comes into play. The current rating is to allow for a stalled compressor so it doesn't trip the circuit breaker every time it cycles back in as the compressor usually stops on a compression stroke.
Soft start air con units bleed off the head pressure and start the fans up before the compressor to stagger the load, inverter technology starts the compressor at a very slow spin after the fans are up to speed so a very soft start. The part that catches a lot of people is that inverter technology air conditioners do ramp up to full load plus a bit until they pull the temp down and only then do they reduce the compressor speed to match the load required. Not unusual to see an inverter technology unit ramp up to a 4kW electrical load for 20 mins after start up before it drops back to as little as a 1.2kW electrical load and then back to maybe 750w if the insulation is good.
jonescg wrote: ↑Wed, 07 Nov 2018, 09:48
Sometimes they refer to the 'cooling power' or the rate of heat removal. That would be closer to 1.8 kW I'd think.
This is it, its equivalent to a 6kw bar heater, it's just 200ish% efficient because it's taking energy from the air outside (or inside when cooling) as well as the power lines.
brendon_m wrote: ↑Wed, 07 Nov 2018, 15:45
It's free energy!
Big oil has been keeping it under wraps for years.
Not quite but is is true that for the same electrical power input, a heat exchanger provides almost twice the cooling power and about 150% more heat than a purely resistive heater.
The heat pump hot water salesfolk call it "heat from the air" or similar.
I think you missed the sarcasm.
However it is technically free energy, you're taking heat energy from the air which power companies haven't worked out how to charge us for (yet), so it's energy for free.
brendon_m wrote: ↑Wed, 07 Nov 2018, 16:52
I think you missed the sarcasm.
.....
Sorry Brendon, I should have read more closely who posted that remark. I know from your previous posts that you wouldn't have been serious. The over-unity debate got pretty hot here a couple of years ago.