Continuous Operation of Home Air Conditioner Compressor: Truth or Myth?

Hello,
While asking the service technician about the "air conditioner" for the house, I heard that you can not give too small because it can not go non-stop (for example, 10 hours) only has to rest.
Is this true ?

At work in offices we have small air conditioners that run 24 hours a day 365 days a year. They rest when they cool or heat the room to a selected temperature, when this temperature changes they switch on again.

There is such a parameter as compressor man-hours - and every compressor has some maximum life calculated in these man-hours. In short, a device loaded all the time will be less durable - of course, there is no rule here - but statistics work.

Assuming that it has a life of 3000 hours (I'm shooting), it is relevant whether these 3000 hours are done in a row or in a row with an hour of work, an hour of rest?
In both cases it will be around 3000 hours of total operation? (although in the second case it will be 2 x longer working time).

Personally, I suspect that the installer slightly stretched the truth.

Working continuously, she may pass out of this world after, say (I shoot), 4 years - working with "breath" after 8 years. And if you hit a "weaker piece" - these times can be 2x shorter. He stretched the truth by saying that it "must" rest - he should have said that it "should" rest if you want to have trouble-free operation for a long time - but the customer can do what he wants with it - it's his property, after all.
In practice, if you use the air conditioner ad hoc to cool a room at a time, and then turn it off (for example, so that it does not draw electricity), then the "main thermostat" becomes a person who turns on when he is warm and turns off when he is well enough - then the compressor does not work excessively.
The installer may have had in mind a case where too male device is trying to reach the set low temperature and is unable to do so - then it keeps running without achieving the effect. At the same time, this device is beyond human control (e.g., server rooms, industrial equipment, etc.) in the apartment rather people prefer to save - they will not allow devices that consume a lot of energy to work unnecessarily.

Chris_W wrote:

The installer may have had in mind a case where too male device is trying to reach the set low temperature and is unable to do so - then it keeps running without achieving the effect.

Let's take this case. Does such an action affect the durability of the device (understood as rbg) or just the feeling of a person ?
I would like a device that is able to reduce the temperature by a few degrees and not that it is absolutely always able to get to 20 degrees inside if it is even 36C outside.

The fact that such a device will work all the time does not significantly affect the fact that fewer hours it will be able to work. But the lifespan of equipment in the popular opinion is counted in absolute time - it does not matter whether it stands or works (unless otherwise indicated) - in some air conditioners may be 15 years old and working - but have worked, for example, 100h, and in others they may work 5 years until they break down, but have worked 20000h (we are talking about the operation of the compressor) - so I prefer to talk about the hours of operation of the device, rather than how long someone has an air conditioner.

Chris_W wrote:

...that's why I'd rather talk about the hours of operation of the unit, rather than how long someone has the air conditioner.

Thanks for the reply. This is what I was referring to.

This service technician probably meant something else. An air conditioner with too little power will never reach the set temperature. The compressor will run non-stop, which, if the conditions are not favorable (the lowest discharge speed and clogged filters), can cause the indoor unit to ice up. Even short interruptions in the operation of the compressor will allow the possible seeds of ice to melt.

As a matter of interest:

Three new Sanyo inverters air conditioners, server room. They work for 2 days and then flood. Maneuvers like increasing/decreasing the amount of refrigerant did not help. Sanyo asked for help stated that these units are not designed for server rooms. I ended up manually enforcing 5-minute shutdowns every 12 hours.

I'll add such an interesting fact that in refrigeration systems the compressor operating time is selected at 16/18 h per day.