>My fridge: should I improperly close its door, it'll emit some faint noise for like 30 seconds. It's a totally valid important notification, as nobody wants to burn electricity to cold the room while the food goes bad.
Note that it actually won't cool the room. It'll heat the room. The fridge works by putting hot air out the back. The more the fridge cools, the more hot air it puts out. The hot air is always more than the cool air.
If the fridge was vented outdoors, like A/C, then it would cool the room.
Ok but I think waste heat in this context is fairly trivial, we might as well claim that the room isn't perfectly insulated or something so it won't actually get heated
It might be hotter outside than inside. Someone might think "It's hot, therefore I'll open my fridge to cool it down in here." But that will lead to it getting even hotter, not cooler. If the A/C is on, it'll require the A/C to work extra hard to remove that extra heat.
Also, would you claim a space heater doesn't heat the house if the house is at an equilibrium where the space heater produces heat at the same rate that heat escapes outside? I would say the space heater is still heating the house, but the house is losing heat at the same rate.
Note that it actually won't cool the room. It'll heat the room. The fridge works by putting hot air out the back. The more the fridge cools, the more hot air it puts out. The hot air is always more than the cool air.
If the fridge was vented outdoors, like A/C, then it would cool the room.