Thursday, 7 September 2017

energy conservation - Do air conditioner power ratings violate the 2nd law of thermodynamics?



I just got a new AC rated at 6000 BTU and wanted to determine its power consumption. Some research on AC conventions quickly reveals that 6000 BTU really means 6000 BTU/h, where BTU is a measure of energy (British thermal unit). This is supposedly the rate at which heat is pumped from inside to outside. By the second law of thermodynamics, the power consumed to run the device must be even greater.


A direct conversion gives 6000 BTU/hr = 1758 W, so we should expect a power consumption greater than 1758 W. But I was surprised to see on the side panel of the unit (in the electricity specs) a voltage of 115 V and current of 4.66 A, suggesting a power of


$$115\text{ V} \times4.66\text{ A} \approx536\text{ W}.$$


At first I thought I must be misenterpreting the side panel, so I checked the official specs on the manufacturer's website. They boast a higher current of 6.5 A, and claim the electrical "rated input" of the device is 700 W. Still way too small. How is this possible?


P.S., all the sources I could find about this via googling seemed to contain similarly impossible numbers, without mentioning this seeming violation of the second law.




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