Car Air Conditioning: Energy Usage & Benefits

[Teegvin]

I know someone who, on very hot (25+ C) days, runs her car air conditioner until the car becomes comfortably cool, then turns off the AC without turning off the fan or closing the vent. I think this is rediculous. I got to wondering, however, whether it would take more, less, or the same amount of energy just to run the air conditioner continuously than to turn it on and off while keeping the vents and fan going.

I know that it is difficult to judge without any specific numbers, but if anyone could shed any light on the matter it would be great.

 

[Danger]

It definitely takes more energy (quite a bit, in fact) to run the AC than just the fan. The compressor is belt-driven by the engine, and costs at least a couple of miles per gallon when running. Turning it off disengages the electromagnetic clutch that couples it to the pulley, so that drag is eliminated.

 

[russ_watters]

Her approach actually isn't bad - car air conditioners are not capable of varying their capacity without losing their efficiency, so running at full speed intermittenly is probably more effecient in the long run.

 

[NoTime]

It would depend on how your friend picks her set points compared to the car's AC built in set points.
This means when to turn the AC on and when to turn the AC off.
The car measures the air temperature, indirectly for some cars, or directly (in degrees) for other cars.
The big difference between indirect or direct is that the later shows an actual temperature number.

The car actually does exactly what your friend does.
It turns the AC off (including the clutch to reduce drag) when it is cold enough inside and turns the AC back on when it starts to get too warm. While the AC unit is off the car leaves the vent open and the fan running.
This is because "cold" gets stored in what is called the evaporator and it takes some time to transfer this to the air.

Now the set points selected by the cars manufacture tend to be chosen for best comfort rather than best efficiency, but perhaps some manufactures do pick for best efficiency now.

She could be lucky and picking more efficient set points or actually making it less efficient.

 

[Teegvin]

Thank you all for your answers.

The problem is that by keeping the fan on and the vent open, warm air from outside gets blown into the car. I was wondering if the AC shuts off at a certain temperature to keep the car at the same temperature, and, if so, would it be easier to run it constantly than to run it for a short time, blow warm air into the car, heating it, then cool it back down to that temperature, and heat it up again. Sorry for not being clearer in the original post.

 

[Danger]

Are you sure that it's an external vent that she leaves open? That would be counterproductive, as you pointed out. At lot, if not all, air-conditioned vehicles have a 'recirculation' vent setting. That takes the air that's already inside the vehicle and blows it around to give a cooling breeze effect, and so is more effective than turning the fan off. The symbol on the vent switch shows an arrow going into one vent and out another.

 

[chroot]

Actually, most cars do not have thermostats inside the cabin to turn off the AC compressor. Newer luxury cars have thermostats -- you select a temperature, and the control system does the rest -- but most cars simply run the AC compressor the entire time the AC button is activated. This is why, as the OP mentions, the cabin can become uncomfortably cold if the AC is left on.

If the car has a thermostat, you should probably just let it do its job. If your car does not have a thermostat, then turning the AC on and off periodically -- varying the duty cycle of operation -- is definitely more efficient than leaving the compressor running all the time, and adjusting the temperature (reheat) control.

- Warren

 

[russ_watters]

I was just speculating, though, that car thermostats do not work by cycling the compressor. I didn't think of it before, but they probably work by reheating the air using engine coolant (the same way they produce heat in heating mode). The thermostat in manual temperature control cars doesn't control space temperature, it controls discharge air temperature.

And varying fan speed (also manual) just dumps capacity from the a/c unit, losing efficiency.

Leaving the vent open, however, would be a mistake if you are going to manually cycle the a/c. And in the summer, as Danger said, it should be closed anyway.

 

[chroot]

I was just speculating, though, that car thermostats do not work by cycling the compressor. I didn't think of it before, but they probably work by reheating the air using engine coolant (the same way they produce heat in heating mode). The thermostat in manual temperature control cars doesn't control space temperature, it controls discharge air temperature.

I don't have a lot of experience with luxury cars, but my mother's car certainly does cycle the AC compressor. You can feel it engaging and disengaging.

- Warren

 

[Danger]

most cars simply run the AC compressor the entire time the AC button is activated

Not around here, they don't.
The store parking lots get quite irritating with all of those compressers cutting in and out while the owners are shopping. You can always tell when one's starting to spool up, because the idle drops by 200 or 300 rpm. It'll run for a few minutes, then drop out again.

 

[Bystander]

I don't have a lot of experience with luxury cars, but my mother's car certainly does cycle the AC compressor. You can feel it engaging and disengaging.

- Warren

Yeah --- far's I know, all, or nearly all do --- it's triggered by system pressure in the refrigerant loop --- saves bursting the line between the compressor and expansion valve on cool days. "Cabin" temperature is controlled by bucking cold air through the heater core (never off) with dampers in the underdash ductwork.

 

[chroot]

Okay, I guess I just haven't paid much attention to the cycling of my own AC compressor, which does not have a cabin thermostat. Sorry for the confusion!

- Warren

 

[Danger]

Thanks for clearing that up, Bystander. I also thought that it was a thermostat system, but never looked into it.

 

[NoTime]

Yeah --- far's I know, all, or nearly all do --- it's triggered by system pressure in the refrigerant loop --- saves bursting the line between the compressor and expansion valve on cool days. "Cabin" temperature is controlled by bucking cold air through the heater core (never off) with dampers in the underdash ductwork.

The heater core is turned off when the selected mode is AC.
There are valves and switches just for this.
If one of these fail and leaves the heater core on then your AC will either appear not to work or work very poorly.

While there are pressure sensing switches (high and low incase of leaks) to prevent damage there is also an actual thermometer that measures the evaporator temp (on all cars) and maintains it at a constant(see hysterisis) temp. I have replaced a few of these as the switches tend to fail from the constant cycling.

The air duct control doors move to flow more or less air over the evaporator as you adjust the temperature.

With less air flowing over the evaporator it takes more time for it to warm back up to the compressor on temp.

For more detailed information, the air conditioning maintenace and repair section of any car shop manual
is fairly comprehensive and with minor variations much the same.

 

[Teegvin]

Thank you all for your responses.

 

[NoTime]

It occurs to me that the consol switch is not likely to be rated for constant cycling.
There is a good chance that it will eventually break from this kind of usage.

 

[chroot]

It occurs to me that the consol switch is not likely to be rated for constant cycling.
There is a good chance that it will eventually break from this kind of usage.

Yes, probably after the car has ticked over 8 million miles or so. Oh, wait...

- Warren

 

[NoTime]

The main tech spec for switches is

number of operations @ current

To get more operations the switch costs more.

Contact voltage is also important due to arc over effects.

 

[Artman]

Another way to warm the car when air conditioning is to open the vent. This blends more hot humid outside air into the system.

If she want to manually cycle the A/C she should close the vent. (Newer cars still have a minimum amount of outside air that comes in even at this setting, so she doesn't need to worry about not getting enough fresh air.)

Opening the vent as your friend does, brings in air that is more humid. While just running the fan with the vent closed will keep the amount of humidity in the car about the same. The relative humidity will actually reduce as the recirculating air picks up sensible heat and just gets warmer.

 

[brewnog]

A car with "air conditioning" will run the compressor as long as the button is pressed.

A car with "climate control" will thermostatically control the cabin temperature to the level set by the user.

 

[NoTime]

A car with "air conditioning" will run the compressor as long as the button is pressed.

This is not true.

 

[denni89627]

The compressor cuts off when the pressure regulator tells it to. If the pressure gets too high the evaporator will freeze. Hence the compressor cycling can be different based on outside temp, humidity etc.

 

[ZrednaZ]

The compressor cuts off when the pressure regulator tells it to. If the pressure gets too high the evaporator will freeze. Hence the compressor cycling can be different based on outside temp, humidity etc.

Sorry for reviving this old thread, but what exactly is the conclusion to this discussion?

I'm very interested, as I'm soon going on a long road trip in a rented Chevrolet Aveo which, I presume, utilizes a simple A/C on/off switch with no thermostat. Will we be best off cycling the switch or leaving it on and turning up the temperature knob? I am guessing that we, in spite of the pressure regulator, will save more fuel by cycling the switch?

 

[mtworkowski@o]

I have an 18,000 BTU AC in my house. I always see the water condensing and so forth. I was wondering if I could create a water flow over the condenser to cool it. I'm thinking tank, pump, spray rod, etc. Does anybody know how to do this? I think the pump has to lift the water the min height of the condenser. That doesn't should good. What should I do?

 

[nlpc]

I have a question: our air conditioning seems to be always on even when the ac button is not pressed. when you turn the vent to 1 or more and have the direction knob pointed to vent and feet, the air is the same as outdoor air temp. when i press the ac button, the air gets cold. when i turn off the ac button, the air goes warm again. BUT when i have just the vent on and change the direction button from defrost, back to vent and feet, the air is really cold, as if it's air conditioned even though the button isn't pressed and it stays cold until you turn off the car. i also read someone say above that when the ac compressor cuts in you can feel a little surge in the rpm, and this is happening with us but we thought it was an engine problem. could they be related? i know I'm not crazy but i don't know anything about how a car ac system works and what could possibly be wrong with it. we can't be driving around with ac on all the time when we just want the vent. i need some explanation to tell the garage. HELP!

 

[chroot]

nlpc,

In most cars, the air conditioning system is automatically turned on whenever the windshield defroster is selected. The reason is simple: the A/C cools the air, but also dries it, and that helps get rid of interior moisture.

In most cars, the A/C light will stay on if you switch from defrost to any other mode. If your A/C light does not stay on, then perhaps something is wrong with the switch or the control circuitry.

- Warren

 

[Danger]

This is kind of peculuar. W's van doesn't have an A/C switch. There's just a 180° rotary knob that is blue on the left side and red on the right.

 

[Ranger Mike]

The compressor cuts off when the pressure regulator tells it to. If the pressure gets too high the evaporator will freeze. Hence the compressor cycling can be different based on outside temp, humidity etc.

correct
the A/C will cool temp down by only 20 to 25 degrees F
so on 80 F degree day the inside of the car will chill to around 65 or 70 F

 

[russ_watters]

This is kind of peculuar. W's van doesn't have an A/C switch. There's just a 180° rotary knob that is blue on the left side and red on the right.

Usually that means there is no AC at all...

 

[russ_watters]

You responded to a really old post, Mike, but FYI, both things you said there are wrong.

-First, car AC will cool air much further than a normal air conditoner, perhaps a 25-30 F delta-t (and the delta-t is higher when the air entering is warmer). I once measured 45F air coming out of my car's ac.
-Second, unless the outside air mode is selected, you will recirculate interior air.
-Third, the AC discharge air temperature won't be anywhere near the interior temperature of the car on a hot day. Ie, you might get 50 F air out of the AC and need it to cool the interior down to 75F.

 

[Danger]

Usually that means there is no AC at all...

I stand corrected. I just went out and took a closer look. There is an AC button. I've been driving the stupid thing for over 3 years and never noticed it before. It must be stuck in the 'on' position, because I've never used it and the AC works when you turn the dial to the blue side.

 

[russ_watters]

You're probably wasting energy running it in the winter too...

 

[Danger]

Quite possibly. At this point, there's no reason to investigate it, though. She's moving up north on the weekend, and is planning to sell it when she gets there.

 

[Ranger Mike]

You're probably wasting energy running it in the winter too...

not true
you have to run the A/C once a month , every month to keep the seals " lubed up "
,,,,90 percent of A/C problems are leaks in the system...
so hit the A/C button once a month for a few minutes to prevent big $$$$ costs

 

[redargon]

not true
you have to run the A/C once a month , every month to keep the seals " lubed up "
,,,,90 percent of A/C problems are leaks in the system...
so hit the A/C button once a month for a few minutes to prevent big $$$$ costs

I've heard this too, but i always forget to turn it on in winter 'cos it's so freaking cold outside. The best way is to use it to demist the inside of the windscreen.