cost of fuel when idling with air con on

jeannieblue

Sympathise with you Photome - my only escape at lunch time is my car. I boiled today... i try to find shade to park in in the summer. Winter I def have the heater on.

Ignore criticism, not all of us work in convenient locations and have somehere nice to go at lunch times. I generally have my paper, Radio 2 and now a DS for my escapism - trying to keep some sanity in the mad world we work in.

Re toxins - the enviroment I am in, my lil ol' car is NOTHING in comparison :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

banger9365

on my astra it goes from 1 litre an hour at idle to 2 ltr an hour and it a oil burner with aircon on

AdrianHi

At tick over a rough estimate of fuel used would be a bit less than if you were cruising in top gear and minimum possible speed for that gear. Lets say that equates to 50mpg at 50mph on a 1.8 diesel, travelling say 17 miles in that time (20 minutes), roughly 1 litre of fuel, so it's costing you about £1 to £1.20 in fuel.
You know the score on what you are doing here emissions wise, but you are also doing the diesel engine a lot of harm here, more harm than you be doing the petrol engine. I would not want to be the next owner of your car. Diesels are design to cruise all day on the motorway, use them that way or expect trouble.

LandyAndy

I had a Vauxhall Senator some years ago. A 3 litre petrol. Its fuel consumption computer switched to gallons used per hour when the car was stationary. It used to read 0.4 galls per hour. This is about 1.8 litres (which ties in with vikingaero's post)= about £2 at today's prices for petrol.

A diesel should be significantly more economical.

scbk

Just turn the engine off and open the window - this is a money saving site afterall

photome

AdrianHi wrote: »

At tick over a rough estimate of fuel used would be a bit less than if you were cruising in top gear and minimum possible speed for that gear. Lets say that equates to 50mpg at 50mph on a 1.8 diesel, travelling say 17 miles in that time (20 minutes), roughly 1 litre of fuel, so it's costing you about £1 to £1.20 in fuel.
You know the score on what you are doing here emissions wise, but you are also doing the diesel engine a lot of harm here, more harm than you be doing the petrol engine. I would not want to be the next owner of your car. Diesels are design to cruise all day on the motorway, use them that way or expect trouble.

I dont understand how it can be doing the engine any harm at tick over speed. Bus engines rarely get over tick over speed all day (they are governed) and some diesel generators will run all day at very low revs. Diesels as far as I am aware will go on for ever at any revs so long as they are at operating temperature
Could you tell me the damage it may cause.

I must add it is a company car and i dont pay for the fuel. It has done nearly 100000 and never had a problem so cant be doing to much damage

mymatebob

goldspanners wrote: »

we pay more than enough for our fuel so we will burn it as and when we like, thank you.

Not in some places you wont.

Some local councils will fine you if you sit in a parked car with the engine running.

Have seen it happen outside a school

robnye

scbk wrote: »

Just turn the engine off and open the window - this is a money saving site afterall

wicked.....

i do this all the time.....

i also buy 2 packets of cereal, so i can keep one topped up.... :rolleyes:

photome

mymatebob wrote: »

Not in some places you wont.

Some local councils will fine you if you sit in a parked car with the engine running.

Have seen it happen outside a school

I dont sit outside schools but what is the offence?

scbk

I know in Inverness busses can get fined for being sat idiling for more than 5 minutes, quite right too. Just because you don't pay for something directly doesn't mean you should waste it.