Climate Control Overheads

Lee S

Lee S

Member
I have always left the climate control permanently on in my car, set to auto and normally between 20 and 22 degrees. It never goes off. Is this sapping my economy or performance? when I first got the car, I am sure I worked out that it was doing something like 5 mpg less with climate on and therefore forgot about it, thinking that if it was left on and working all the time, it would be less likely to break down, having read that a lot of problems with cc and ac were down to little or no usage. Any thoughts? Am I wasting loads of fuel like this?

Cheers,

Lee
 
When CC is on auto, the AC is also on, except when the outside temperature is below 5C. Then depending on the amount of cooling needed by the AC, your mpg drops accordingly. The result is a rather good driving condition, rarely misted windows (because of the AC) and temperature automatically compensated against bright sun light. I love it and have it on auto 21C all the time. My compressor died last year, (48k miles, 7.5yr old car) but a swap of the part and recharge of the AC gas and it is back to its best :)
 
I was the same with the Allroad - had the climate on all year around. This year I started turning it off on dry days during the winter and noticed that I'm getting 2-3 mpg more. It does make a difference.

My wife does the same on the A2 now and gets 2 mpg more but all her driving is stop and start in the city. I think there is more of a difference if the car is doing a lot of motorway miles.
 
Just leave the AC on and don't worry about it - opening windows to provide "fresh air" ventilation can cut your economy by at as much as 10mpg! One thing though, do press the vent flow buttons periodically and cycle through the different options - if you leave it in "Auto" it can increase the risk of vent flap motor issues.
 
On the other hand, I leave mine on 'Econ' most of the time to save a little engine power and about 3 to 5 MPG. I don't have any misting / condensation issues (though my A2 is garaged). I only switch it to full 'Auto' once a month to lubricate the parts and the rare occasions when it goes over 25C outside (about 6 times last year?). I think we are due a hot summer so must get my AC recharged to get it back to blowing ice cold.
 
Interesting. It seems most people leave it on permanently then and set it to a specific temp. I am not really that bothered by 3-5mpg to be honest and I would rather be comfortable on my journeys. I will definitely make a point of selecting all the different control options though, just to make sure everything motors OK.

My car is a Jan 2003 (52 plate) model and the cold air produced is still icy cold. Hopefully it will last a while longer before needing a re-gas. How much does a re-gas cost in general? Is it a dealer job or any competent AC specialist can do it?
 
Don't think there is a hard and fast rule w.r.t regas. Typically, you'll hear a 2yr limit, but some say whenever you feel the A/C isn't cold enough. Mind you there is usually lubricant in the gas and when the pressure is too low or not enough gas, the compressor suffers more wear.

You don't have to go to a dealer, I've done mine by a local specialist, who also performed a full vacumm leak test before refilling. For about £6x from memory
 
A/C is effective in a car when ever the temperature is over about 5C in my experience - just the fact that you're drying the air provides a good counter for the natural greenhouse effect of all the glass and having a large source of heat (engine) in close proximity to you! I would never buy a car without A/C and I never turn it off.

I've only ever re-gassed an A/C system once on a previous car - it had got noticably less cold - when they re-gassed they put in a flourescent leak detection dye which showed the compressor seal had gone - bought a new compressor and re-gassed and it worked perfectly. The re-gas was about £60, the compressor, er, significatnly more so!
 
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