I don't have to filter anyone or require any any kind of modification to the world around me.
I don't "just turn it off for a few hot hours" usually I turn it off in the morning when I get up at 4:30am and it stays off till I get home around 7. That's typical and I can leave it off for 2 up to 3 days in the summer, but that is not typical.
I wouldn't call 430 to 7 a few hours.
It depends on the type of air conditioner.
They are all not created equal.
My central is an older R410a system fixed speed compressor and mechanical thermal expansion valve when used in A/C mode. Pretty sure its not staged because of how old it is.
The manual says it gives up on trying to be a heat pump a +5F, starts using minimal electric heating at 38F.
Old central systems, some old splits and most window units run a fixed orifice and fixed speed compressor.
The fixed orifice and speed units need to be ran full blast for extended periods. If it were over loaded that wouldnt really be a bad thing.
Trying to do things that you think would save power really have little effect, such as slowing down the fan or cooling the condenser coils with cool water only reduce power consumption by around 10%.
Most of the power reduction you see when turning the fan speed down is just from the fan running slower.
The inside and out side fans may have 1 or 2 speeds.
These are your 10 to 12 seer machines. They're cheap above all else, efficiencywas an after thought.
The most common central air systems and most splits now use a single staged fixed speed compressor or 2 fixed speed compressors usually a big and small one, this has been around for ages on large commercial installs and use a metered expansion valve, usually a mechanical one.
These can be throttled down, be extra cooled on the condenser side during AC mode with say a ground based hest sink and it will reduce power consumption dramatically up to 75% for winter heatpumping, but usually only 1/3 to 1/4 for summer A/C.
Now we have variable speed compressors with thermal expansion valves on premium central units and splits. These give the best efficiency.
The compressor can slow way down to match the heat load saving the power of running the compressor at full speed when it's not needed. These can slow way down and go into high efficiency mode, not even needing the condenser fan to run, cooling off a big room with around 400 watts of power during the hottest part of the day.
They also don't try to start at full speed like a fixed speed, pulling a bunch of start up amps.
Good for if you want to go off grid.
The violent jerk to full speed is what helps wear out fixed speed compressors.