SUMMER and a fuel price crisis are a bad combination, as drivers whack up their air-con and use more fuel in the process.
But there’s a simple thing you can do when driving on a hot day to reduce the car’s interior temperature and help the air-con out.
Using your car’s air conditioning system can increase fuel use by up to 10% as the engine has to work harder to power the compressor.
On hot days, it has to work harder for longer to bring the cabin to a temperature you’re happy with.
So the best advice if your car has been sitting in the sun for some time, is to open all the windows immediately and leave them open for the first few minutes of your drive.
Do this before you stick the air-con on, as it’ll be the quickest way to get the air moving inside and lower the temperature.
After a few minutes, pop them back up and stick the air-con on if necessary. It won’t have to work as hard or as long as if you’d kept the windows up.
In turn, because your engine isn’t having to work as hard to power the compressor, you’ll be saving fuel – important during the current fuel price crisis.
The RAC also has these tips for cooling your car quickly.
‘Open both the windows on one side of the car, then ‘fan’ the interior by swinging a door on the opposite side back and forth.
‘Providing you’re not worried about potentially looking a bit weird, repeat this open-close motion at least three times to help expel the hot air.’
‘Heat rises, so it makes sense to blast the cooler, air-conditioned air into the footwells, forcing the hot air already inside the car upwards and out of the open windows.
‘Shut off the upper vents on the dashboard and at the base of the windscreen so that the full flow of air into the car is directed upwards. ‘
