On 17/09/2023 10:13, Theo wrote: mile from the aircon.
Why does it consume so much? In a house, a 2kW air conditioner will easily cool a room of 40 - 50m^3 without problem. A car's interior will be a tenth of that, so is a car's a/c just inefficient?
For those of us stupid enough to drive whilst smoking (mea culpa) they were a godsend. I only partially excuse myself on the grounds that a) everyone did it and b) the roads were relatively empty then.
Taking you more literally than you intended, I don't think there are many production cars that could manage that - a McLaren F1 does 60-100 in 3.1s, for example.
About 35 years ago I was driving a hire car in Hawaii, and getting used to the aircon. The outside temp was around 30°, so I had it on pretty high. Rather unexpectedly, the windscreen started steaming up, so I turned the car ventilation airflow to the maximum demisting position. The demisting got worse very quickly, so I tried wiping the windscreen with my hand. It made absolutely no difference, and then the penny dropped. I turned the windscreen wipers on and the screen became instantly clear. The aircon was so cold that it had cooled the windscreen glass down, and with the high humidity outside the condensation was on that side of the screen!
Not the class to which that diktat applies. It is literally more than their job is worth with tachographs etc.
I know for a fact that coaches are not so limited.
Another factoid that not many people know is that goods vehicles (LCVs)o are limited to 50mph on single lane roads. Not 60mph.
And 60mph on motorways. So that is basically 'vans not derived from a car'
None of them I have ever seen keep to either.
Which is why the HGVs are mechanically limited A government report...
"4. On dual carriageways the actual average speed at which HGVs, such as articulated lorries, travel in free flow conditions (when they are not held up by other traffic or obstructions such as junctions, hills or bends) is 53 mph1. More than 80% of HGVs to which the 50 mph applies currently exceed it in free-flow conditions2.
The report basically says that the '10mph slower for commercial vehicles' is disregarded by 93% of drivers, and the only thing that works is EU mandated speed limiters.
Another advantage of Brexit would be to allow commercial traffic to disable these on UK roads, thereby getting rid of the agonising road blocks they cause.
They already do that. Adaptive Cruise Control.
Paul
its about 11 seconds in reality, but the more typical sort of 50-60 figure is a second and a bit
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Except when one is attempting to leave a motorway and left hand lane is nose to tail with HGVs travelling at 30mph :)
It's insulation is. It's massive thermal gain from all those single glazed windows, too...and requirements for ventilation mena thatthe internal air is recycled pretty ofetn
5 people in a large room need as much air intake as 5 people in a car.In reality I dont know for what percentage of the time the average aircon compressor is actually on.
Watching you tube videos of a Florida mechanic suggests that in Florida in summer its 100% to try and keep the cabin relatively cool when its up at 40°C outside . Aircon servicing is a major part of what he does.
Conversely yesterday at 25°C I would suspect its less than 20% of the time.
That might equate to only around 600W average. (less than a bhp)
I do remember some years ago driving a pathetic little automatic belonging to the GF of the time with a 1300 or 1600 engine and you could feel the compressor kick the effect, but my land rovers and jaguars are heavy enough to make it fairly undetectable...
Until you have steered with your knees while your two hands were rolling a spliff, you really aren't an experienced driver.
I remember driving up from Hamburg to Denmark in freezing fog. The windscreen washers froze and the vertical whip aerial acquired a glazing of ice. And yet the temperature was above zero. Evaporation of in the one case alcohol in the screenwash and in the second presumably water from the fog allowed a temperature drop to freeze the nozzles and the ice on the aerial.
I remember aircon at 35°C and 100% RH too at Chichen Itza. A life saver.
I cant recall whether I have that or not.
There is a button marked ASL..but that is simply a speed limiter. Fucking dangerous as it cuts your options in half in an emergency
Mm. That's when a little fore thought and planning comes into play. I generally start to plan a busy dual carriageway exist *at least* a mile ahead. Use of maxium rabbit on the welly foot is sometimes indicated to get to the head of the queue before the turnoff.
+1 Being comfortable in the car whilst driving make fo safer driving
As
It may be that when directing the air flow to the screen the air con automatically switches on to dry the incoming air. On my previous car, a 2001 Ford Focus, this was implemented and fully described in the one of the manuals BUT the air con dash light never came on in this mode. That car also had a heated front windscreen :)
But most of the American cars he services seem to have 5+ litre engines :)
He serviced a Flux Capacitor the other day, jokingly, during an oil change on one of the DeLoreans used in the Back to the Future films.
Still have them on one car
I am fairly happy with the button marked 'auto' on the climate control system. There are a pair of buttons with front and rear screen heaters attached, and some manual overrides but in general the system understands full heat PLUS aircon to de humidify the screen
Indeed, but look at the mileage. USA has huge distances, and cheap fuel. A BIG torquey slow revving engine LASTS.
Even if it only gets 18mpg.
I know. I watch it regularly. He is a good comedian and his wife is sweet.
>
No, its 60 on dual carriageways and 70 on motorways.
The rules are rather complicated for commercial vehicles that are able to use car speed limits.
<snip>That'll only happen in your dreams.
Are you aware that the UK government of the day agreed to these EU rules and didn't veto the EU directive?
If you have a Samsung recent smart tv, look at the Myth Buster channel. There was an episode of this show that did the very experiment you mention of fuel consumption with windows open aircon off and windows closed air con on. Of course it could not tackle variables like traffic jams. Brian
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