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Simple question: Does using air con consume more petrol?

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Old 31 May 2001, 12:28 AM
  #1  
Rikki23
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a yes or no would do nicely. or you can say how much if you know!

thanks
Rikki
Old 31 May 2001, 12:33 AM
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camk
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Cool

yes. Don't know how much but essentially you need more power to drive all the components and so more fuel.
Old 31 May 2001, 12:38 AM
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Markus
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yes it does, plus it also saps power as the engine has to run the aircon compressor. Don't know figures, but I'm sure a few peeps on here do, and will post them.
Old 31 May 2001, 12:46 AM
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Rikki23
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Red face

i can actually feel a reduction in acceleration when the a/c pump or whatever it is cuts in
Old 31 May 2001, 01:25 PM
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Mossman
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Lightbulb

Definetely. Mine feels seriously less pokey with aircon on.

Mossman
Old 31 May 2001, 01:37 PM
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The_Gza
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Yup - I actually forgot to switch mine off when my car was being rolling roaded and lost about 6-8bhp as a result

Doh!
Old 31 May 2001, 02:26 PM
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John Catlin
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Up to about 10%

[This message has been edited by John Catlin (edited 31 May 2001).]
Old 31 May 2001, 03:07 PM
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Jza
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Well i cant notice any difference on my MY01 WRX. Tried accelerating / switching off and nothing happens!!!

Jza
Old 31 May 2001, 03:12 PM
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Butty
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When I have got the climate control on, the boost looks like it drops to about 0.7 bar from its usual 0.75 (Forester stb by the way) and the car has a few splutters as well.

Nick
Old 31 May 2001, 03:22 PM
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Boost II
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I thought I read that in the impreza, if you 'floored' it the air con automatically shut down as not to drain power - anyone seen any evidence for this. the exact detail of where I saw this are a bit hazey though.
Old 31 May 2001, 03:31 PM
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WREXY
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Well I've noticed instead of getting approximately 500 km out of 50 litres, I get around 400km out of 50 litres with the airco on. These figures are when I take it easy. I consume more when driving harder though.
Old 31 May 2001, 03:37 PM
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Steve vRS
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Lightbulb

It would be interesting to know how much more petrol you use with a window open instead of the air con on due to losses in aero-dynamic efficiency. I would imagine that at motorway speeds, it's cheaper to run air-con!

Steve
Old 31 May 2001, 03:49 PM
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Paul Wilson
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Lightbulb

Steve's right, saw some research recently, that using air con on a motorway was slightly more fuel efficeient than openeing your windows.

Air-con, uses about 3-5 hp to run it, so if on a steady throttle when it cuts in you will notice it , as at say 80mph, your only using about 70-80 hp to move along.

Besides which , you can hear the stereo
Old 31 May 2001, 03:49 PM
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Mark Pattison
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You fellas dont know how lucky you are

Out here its 30 degrees in the shade and driving without aircon during the day is lunacy - but some still do. Our STi6 would loose quite a lot of its edge/power and become a complete beast during the cool winters. Another great reason to own an impreza in the uk.

You can never have enough power, sod the fuel
Old 31 May 2001, 03:53 PM
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Steve vRS
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR><B>Another great reason to own an impreza in the uk.

You can never have enough power, sod the fuel [/quote]

At soon to be 85p per litre of UL, lucky in the UK?



Steve


[This message has been edited by Steve Sherwen (edited 31 May 2001).]
Old 31 May 2001, 04:00 PM
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Mark Pattison
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Mate, you don't wonna know how much fuel is here
Old 31 May 2001, 04:07 PM
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Rikki23
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that was an interesting thought about drag reulting from an open window at high speed.

my friend said that i would be surprised at the extra fuel consumption form using air con but 500km ----&gt; 400km/tank - that is very a lot
Old 31 May 2001, 04:09 PM
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WREXY
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I know what you mean about hot weather Mark. It's even worse here in Summer, although winter is cold and I notice the perfomance gains and losses during the seasons.
Old 31 May 2001, 04:16 PM
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WREXY
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Rikki, those results are running the airco for a whole tank, which you need to do here, in summer, as it gets way too hot in Greece. We get similar consumption differences from my wifes Kia Shuma (Mentor)98 as well.

[This message has been edited by WREXY (edited 31 May 2001).]
Old 31 May 2001, 05:05 PM
  #20  
Paul Wilson
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A lot is going to depend on the type of driving you are doing, if your doing town driving, 5 hp is going to make a huge difference, as you are probably only using, on average, 30-50 hp, so that equals 10-20%, however when on the motorway, 5hp is equal to maybe 5%, plus in town, aerodynamic drag is tiny, but on the m-way, is significant.

Old 31 May 2001, 08:54 PM
  #21  
MrData
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Wink

Re Aircon cutting out at full throttle, it's true.

You can smell the aircon when you've had it running, switch it off and then back on again.

Try accelerating hard through the gears with you foot to the floor whilst the air con is on. Once you return to normal throttle use, you'll smell the aircon switching back on.

Also had this confirmed by a pal who's a master tech at a local car dealer.

Cheers
Kurt
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