6 Tips to Help Generate The Most Cool From Your Car Air Conditioning

In Australia, due to the warmer climate, we tend to use our cars’ A/C 6-8 months out of the year, and then we forget about it. But it is crucial to understand there are steps to follow and precautions to be had if you want to cool your car the right way.

How To Get The Most Cool From Your A/C System

Our engineers know how to handle all things related to car air conditioning. Read down below to understand how to keep temperatures low – while being fuel-efficient.

1. Stop pre-cooling – it’s not worth it.

There’s something a lot of people don’t know, or at least never thought about it. Your A/C depends on your car’s engine to work properly. The faster the engine turns, the better your air conditioning system will work. And the opposite is true as well: if you’re not driving around, it’s going to take more out of your car to make the A/C work properly.

Instead of forcing your air-conditioning system to go overdrive the minute, you turn on your car, try this: put the rear windows down, start driving, and let the fan start working. Drive around for 30 seconds or so – in less than a minute all the hot air will go out the window and your engine will be ready to fire the A/C.

If it’s not hot enough and you can wait, even better! Drive around for a while before you start using the air-conditioning system.

2. Choosing a higher A/C temperature will heat the car, go low instead.

Choosing the lowest temperature and using your fan properly will make the whole ordeal more cost-efficient. You might believe it’s the other way around, right? The lower the temperature, the more work the A/C has to do, and the more fuel your car burns – but that’s wrong.

Your typical air-conditioning system cools the air down to a certain temperature – one that’s usually lower than you might think. If you believe you are saving gas by choosing a somewhat higher temperature, you are actually doing more harm than good!

If you choose a higher temperature, the A/C will have to heat the air instead – burning more fuel in the process.

AC Recirculation mode

3. Know when to use Recirculation Mode

The recirculation and fresh air modes on your vehicle’s heating and AC system are designed to regulate the air quality and comfort inside your vehicle. Knowing when to use them can help you stay safe and comfortable, and save wear and tear on your AC system.

Selecting Recirculation mode closes an air duct in the front of the car so that the air from outside does not come inside the vehicle. Recirculating air, especially on a hot day, puts less stress on your car’s blower motor and air compressor, improving efficiency.

Recirculation mode should only be used when the air conditioner is on. It’s a common misconception that you will use up the oxygen in the car if the air recirculation button is on for an extended period of time. Many manufacturers, however, recommend that you only engage it when needed, such as:

  1. When you need to cool down a hot car quickly
    Use recirculation mode to help your AC system work more efficiently to cool your vehicle down by keeping hot outside air from moving through the unit. Recirculating cooled air, rather than bringing in fresh outside air, can cool down your vehicle faster. The longer it’s on, the cooler your car gets.
  2. When you need to keep out unpleasant odors
    When driving in a tunnel, or behind a large truck, or diesel vehicle, dirty air and exhaust fumes can come become overwhelming. Switch to recirculation mode to block the unclean outside air from entering your vehicle’s cabin.

Turn Start Stop OFF

4. Do things yourself, turn off the start/stop system.

Newer cars come with an automatic Start/Stop feature, usually advertised as a fuel-saver. More often than not, it will do as advertised, but it will also keep the A/C compressor from running properly whenever the automatic feature turns your engine off.

It might not seem like much, but if you are dealing with very hot weather and stuck in traffic, you are going to have a bad time wondering why isn’t the A/C running as it should.

5. Keep your A/C filter clean.

Make sure you check your car’s A/C, just as you would do with your home’s air-conditioning system. Dirty filters will prevent optimal A/C use and will make you burn through a lot more fuel than you should.

Nowadays it’s rather easy to check on your car’s filters, make sure you read the manual to make sure how to do it. If you don’t change your dirty filters, you are not saving money – you are burning fuel and you’ll need more than usual.

automatic climate control

6. Turn off your automatic climate control.

Automatic Climate Control is an air conditioning system that maintains the manually pre-set interior temperature of your car at the desired level.

The automatic climate control won’t make the temperature in your vehicle’s cabin cool down faster, so you can simply turn this feature off. Most cars with this feature will use the fan to adjust the temperature and not the A/C – giving poor results all the way around.

Instead, do things manually and choose the right temperature for you.

Need a Quote? Contact Jack Frost

Our Technicians are trained to the highest level, so they can offer the best quality service and advice-giving you peace of mind when working on your vehicle.

To book or to request a quote, simply give us a call on (07) 3180 3500 or fill out our online quote form. Alternatively, you can also drop by our Southside workshop located at 4/429 Creek Road Mt Gravatt East , 4122 or our Northside workshop located at 11/483 Newman road Geebung 4034

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This field is required.

This field is required.

Get 30% OFF Inspections. Limited Time Only!

X