Honda Car Forum

After reading through the posts I keep missing the key point...


A/C is more efficient on longer trips when you "DRIVE TO COMFORT". I
worked for Parker Hannifin for 7 years designing Thermal eXpansion
Valves (TXV's) for Auto/Truck use. I started in the research lab and
eventually ended up supporting road trips where manufacturers would
take their soon to be model to the hottest place know to god and test
the A/C. I miss doing that...

Did you notice in the Mythbusters "test" that they had their jacket
on???? I't called drive to comfort. Once you're confortable, you turn
the A/C down. Once the A/C is turned down and the clutch on the
compressor starts to cycle... BANG, there's your savings over driving
with the windows down on a longer (10+ miles) trip.

PS: I drive with the A/C on ALL the time, 1 mile or more... hehe


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mikeyb420
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On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:55:13 -0700, mikeyb420
<mikeyb420.2sx5fq@no-mx.nodomain.com> wrote:

>
>After reading through the posts I keep missing the key point...
>
>
>A/C is more efficient on longer trips when you "DRIVE TO COMFORT". I
>worked for Parker Hannifin for 7 years designing Thermal eXpansion
>Valves (TXV's) for Auto/Truck use. I started in the research lab and
>eventually ended up supporting road trips where manufacturers would
>take their soon to be model to the hottest place know to god and test
>the A/C. I miss doing that...
>
>Did you notice in the Mythbusters "test" that they had their jacket
>on???? I't called drive to comfort. Once you're confortable, you turn
>the A/C down. Once the A/C is turned down and the clutch on the
>compressor starts to cycle... BANG, there's your savings over driving
>with the windows down on a longer (10+ miles) trip.
>
>PS: I drive with the A/C on ALL the time, 1 mile or more... hehe

Kind of a late reply...

I didn't see the Mythbusters test. My van doesn't cycle the AC - you
are supposed to blend in some heat for comfort. In moderate weather,
I will turn it on and off manually rather than blending in heat. In
really hot weather I run it full time for comfort so I don't think an
automatic control would save much there.

According to my results, rolling down the window only costs about 2%
on fuel mileage, so the AC would have to get down to a 33% duty cycle
to break even. Perhaps newer cars are more efficient on AC.