What does ‘capacity reduction’ do to Air Conditioners?

Question

I see many Air Conditioners letting you choose to operate at 40% to 120% capacity. What is the use of this feature? Wouldn’t the AC unit be struggling to maintain stable temperature in a bigger room when set at say 60% capacity, thus causing it to overwork?

In: Technology

Answer 1

Turning the machine on and off tends to be the more stressful times for the mechanics in it. It should last longer if you turn it on once and leave it running for a long time, rather than letting it cycle on and off a lot.

But of course, if you turn it on for a long time then your home will turn into an igloo. So you want to have it run at reduced capacity instead so that it does just keep running longer for that benefit.