Free markets, air conditioning, physics and the Internet

Now here's an article to link them all.

Humid heat makes me slightly irascible and it is therefore a blessing that me and my girlfriend have bought a portable AC. Facts speak louder than words, and it says a lot about the current weather that 27 degrees feels like heaven compared to the living room. 

As it is no intention of mine to plug the Pinguino De Longhi brand (italian, funny name and a classic advertising campaign in the 90's), I'll address the issue of common sense, so dear to me.

See, the free market operates well when both buyers and sellers operate rationally and true information is available. Which means capitalism won't work when people think (or write) with their backside. And boy, does one see that in action while navigating the ocean of junk consumer reviews that litter the interwebs.

Let's begin with an easy one. Middle school physics and chemistry teaches us that nothing can be created and nothing is destroyed, including energy. Cooling your room means the heat has to go somewhere, usually in the form of the scalding hot air from the compressor being sent packing. As inevitable as our tax bill and our ultimate demise, comes the zero-star review proclaiming "dude, this portable AC has a huge exhaust hose! No-one ever mentioned it! Do not buy!". Oh man, your science teacher is proud!

Another gem can be found in the noise department. Usual complaints about the cheaper portable ACs include the fact that they're noisy buggers. I give, this is a very fair comment, particularly on hearing it soon after having started it up. Yet we're talking online reviews here rather than first impressions. As per previous constatation that the compressor is incorporated into the unit, how can one review a cheaper portable AC expecting the firm to fit a mother-of-expensive silent compressor into it?

Classic but subtler, the criticism of the AC requiring extra air from outside (ergo, hotter) to work properly. Well, thinking about it rationally, if there's a big fan blowing air from your room onto a hot heatsink and out through a big hose into the street, where does one expect the replacement air to come from? The trick, naturally, is that the massive temperature difference between the exhaust and replacement air results in a net loss of heat from the room. Ergo, it cools.

Among the crassest, an Italian's review on ciao.it. The customer in question, after consulting with his cousin who used a 7000 BTU through-the-wall unit to cool his bedroom, proceeded to purchase a 6000 BTU portable AC to cool off his 600-odd square foot living room. The obvious result is no cooling, a negative review and a distortion of the AC's rating on the site. Now can someone please tell me how I am supposed to make an informed choice when given such garbage?

Which brings me to my final point, though there would be many others. I am pretty satisfied with being spared the risk of snapping at people for no reason but the heat. However, while trying to filter out the junk and idiocy from the various AC units' reviews, I altogether forgot to contemplate, or ask about, the presence or not of an inverter.

So I am presently stuck doing research as to whether letting the compressor trip into action three times an hour at a setting of 27 degrees is a wise choice for the welfare of my wallet. Given that lower settings are expensive, higher settings are uncomfortable and an inverter-endowed AC unit would have set us back far more than this one, I reckon I shouldn't be complaining. Those 9000 BTUs are surely very appreciated.