Does air con really eat your fuel?

Inactive

MrsE wrote: »

I only use mine when its hot.

You would freeze in the winter running it for an hour:eek:

:rotfl::rotfl:

Only if it is turned to cold.

skiddlydiddly

Little tip for owners of cars whose windows mist up a lot.I keep a few sachets of silica gel on the dash, including one massive one and it made my early morning condensation problems a lot better.

cyclonebri1

skiddlydiddly wrote: »

Little tip for owners of cars whose windows mist up a lot.I keep a few sachets of silica gel on the dash, including one massive one and it made my early morning condensation problems a lot better.

You'ld need a sponge and a bucket in my car, but then again it gets filled with wet gear every few days,

adouglasmhor

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Of course, if you removed the air con system from your car it would make it considerably lighter and so wouldn't use as much fuel anyway.

While you're at it, you could remove all the 'essential' safety equipment, air bags, anti intrusion beams, thick pillars etc. and make you car lighter still. That way it would stop quicker and have better visibility so you would probably be able to avoid having the accident that you needed all the safety equipment for in the first place.



I'll get my coat.

I have a car like that, it even has a couple of the wheels removed.
Fuel consumption is not fantastic though.

Gloomendoom

adouglasmhor wrote: »

I have a car like that, it even has a couple of the wheels removed.
Fuel consumption is not fantastic though.

And, statistically, not very good at avoiding accidents either!

Perhaps you need to remove more stuff... like the engine.

pimento

buglawton wrote: »

Recently tested the air con on a 20 mile journey - Hyundai i30.

1. Made no noticeable difference to power. At idle, revs stay the same as it is switched on/off, no 'kick'.

2. On the fuel consumption meter, over 20 miles, consumption appears to be 0.1 MPG worse than the same 20 miles done with a/c off.

3. Yes it is working - producing cold air.

This is a huge contrast to my last car that was built in 1997 where power went down noticeably when a/c switched on.
As I cannot really believe this test result I am now comparing it with with other owners of the same (petrol) model.

Have things changed so much for more modern cars? I will bet that the air con is not measured as part of the fuel consumption test for VED calculation, so would imagine it's a low priority for manufacturers to have 'economical' air con.

This is great news for me who has just (Sunday just gone) bought an i30 and used to drive a Ka.

matty538

Well while stuck at a level crossing today i decided id do a simple test.
So I unlocked the hidden tests on my E36 BMWs on board computer and brought up the real time fuel usage.
So just idling with no aircon on my car uses between .9 an 1L of fuel an hour, with aircon on my car uses between 1.2 and 1.3L an hour.

cyclonebri1

matty538 wrote: »

Well while stuck at a level crossing today i decided id do a simple test.
So I unlocked the hidden tests on my E36 BMWs on board computer and brought up the real time fuel usage.
So just idling with no aircon on my car uses between .9 an 1L of fuel an hour, with aircon on my car uses between 1.2 and 1.3L an hour.

Thats probably as extreme a difference you could show as the engine load is at it's lowest at idle, but a good pointer to how much diferrence it could make, :T:T

SusieWinwood

:eek:

Never in my wildest dreams did I think my thread would go to 4 pages lol!

I have to admit that most of the replies have had me :embarasse with my lack of car innerds knowledge but much appreciated anyway.:j

We pick up said car tomorrow so we'll have to 'suck it and see' and I will report back!!

Thanks all for replying

Susie

bryanb

Susie, to sum up all the previous posts. Air con in a car uses energy, it has to come from somewhere. Fuel is the only source available. How much fuel can be calculated if you know all the factors, but you are then faced with some variables. For example the temperature drop the unit is set to give, the outside and inside temps of the vehicle. Suck it and see is the right answer.