Summer is here, and it has arrived with a vengeance for the majority of the United States. If you’re lucky enough to have a car with a functioning air conditioning system, then you’re likely to depend heavily on it this season. In order to maximize the cooling power of your AC, Consumer Reports engineers released some tips that can help.
In extreme temperatures and extreme situations, running your air conditioning can be a contributing factor to making a car overheat. In regions that regularly experience high temperatures or on long steep hills, you may see signs that recommend turning your air conditioning off in order to avoid overheating your car. This can be an issue for some older cars, but most modern cars have more efficient air conditioning compressors that are less likely to cause your engine to overheat.
If you live in a region that’s experiencing extreme weather conditions, or if you’re planning to take a road trip to a hotter region and you want to maximize your car’s cooling power, here are some tips from industry experts at Consumer Reports.
Do this instead of letting the AC run before beginning your drive
Every car owner knows what it’s like to get into a hot car that’s been baking in the sun for hours. Though it may seem like a good idea to start the car and let it idle for a while before setting off to let the AC cool the cabin, this is not the best way to cool your car down.
Instead of “precooling” like this, experts recommend turning on your AC once you start driving, and rolling all the windows down for 10 or 20 seconds. This not only purges the cabin of all the miserably hot air that’s been superheated by the sun, but it also allows your car’s AC system to reach its full potential. This is because air conditioning compressors work better when the engine is running at higher speeds. Consumer Reports says, “You might think you’re wasting the cooling from the air conditioner. But it will take that long for the AC to start cooling, so you’ll actually be helping it cool the interior.”
Skip the digits and go lo
If your car has a climate control system that allows you to select a temperature like a home thermostat, it’s tempting to set a temperature like a tantalizingly chilly 65 degrees, but that’s not the best way to go about cooling your car off in extreme conditions. This may fall under the classification of “no duh,” but when you’re facing triple digit heat and you’re desperate to cool things down as effectively as possible, it bears repeating.
Crank that temperature dial or tap through your car’s touchscreen menu and get the temperature set all the way down to the “Low” setting (sometimes written “Lo”), past all the digits. According to Consumer Reports, this helps maximize your car’s cool because “in a typical AC system, the air is cooled to 38 degrees. If you set the temp higher, you’re actually forcing the system to reheat the cooled air, which takes more effort and more fuel.”
Avoid recirculation
The button on your climate control panel that has the outline of a car with a circular arrow inside of it is called the recirculation button. When you press it, your car takes the air from inside the cabin and recirculates it through the climate control system. When the button is not selected, your car uses air from outside of the car and cools it down and blows it into the interior.
If you have passengers in the back seat of your car, it’s best to turn your car’s recirculation off to maximize the cooling of the entire interior. The recirculation system usually pulls air from the front seat footwells, so it can keep the front seats more cool, but the back seats are more likely to deal with stuffy and hot air. This can change if your car has back seat air vents, but if you need to cool the back seats and you don’t have rear vents, leave the recirculation button off.
Deactivate your car’s stop/start system
Most modern cars have an automatic stop/start system that benefits fuel efficiency and decreases tailpipe emissions. In hybrid electric vehicles, the gasoline engine can shut off without impeding the function of the air conditioning system because they have electrically operated air conditioning compressors. When a vehicle that’s exclusively powered by gasoline shuts off at a stop light, the air conditioning compressor stops working, and the cold air stops flowing.
This issue is less impactful when you’re traveling on the freeway or going long distances, but if you’re stuck in stop-and-go traffic or even if you’re stuck at a stoplight in high heat, you will notice that the air conditioning system doesn’t work when you’re stopped. Deactivate the stop/start system to keep the cold air flowing.
Inspect your cabin air filter
If you’ve ever taken your car to a rapid oil change chain, you’ve likely been asked if you want to change your cabin air filter. Though it may seem like a daunting task, it’s often quite simple, and you don’t even have to replace it, you can simply clean the one that’s already there and put it right back in.
Just as the name suggests, the cabin air filter filters the air that the climate control system blows into the interior of your car. In many modern cars, the cabin air filter is located at the back of your glove compartment. If yours isn’t located inside the glove box, a quick Google search will usually help you find it. Take it out and shake it out, it’s common to find leaves and other debris stuck in there, but if yours looks really dirty you might be better off replacing it with a new filter. A clean cabin air filter ensures that your air conditioning system can move as much cool air as possible.
EVs play by slightly different rules
Much the same as hybrids, battery electric vehicles have an electrically operated air conditioning compressor, which can have some benefits over a traditional system. Since EVs have electric AC compressors, preconditioning is an effective tactic to cool down your car before you get in, and if you are able to precondition your car while it’s plugged in, then you don’t need to worry about it dropping your range.
If you want to avoid getting into a sweltering car and it’s not plugged in, it’s more effective to use the windows down tactic that’s recommended for gas-powered cars above to purge the interior of superheated air before switching on the air conditioning and attempting to cool it down.
Running the air conditioner in an EV will decrease your maximum range estimates, but when it’s egregiously hot outside, it’s worth the range sacrifice to have a comfortable and safe cabin. EVs also have recirculate modes and cabin air filters, so if you want to maximize your EV’s air conditioning, check out the cabin filter and shut off the air recirculation.
