When Is The Right Time To Switch Off Your Car’s A/C Recirculate Function?
Most drivers don’t take the time to study all the buttons on their car’s dashboard very carefully. One particular feature that often gets neglected is the A/C recirculates function. How important is it? One, this function keeps the external air from getting into a car. Two, according to the American Chemical Society study, the recirculate function minimizes the pollutants inside a car by 20%. Apart from these benefits, turning on your car’s A/C recirculate function has other practical uses. Which ones?
Cooling Down A Hot Cabin
During summer, the weather outside can get to very high degrees. If a car is parked exposed to sunlight, the car’s cabin gets very hot. To cool down the high temperatures, one can roll down windows to let the hot air out and let in cool air. However, this alone cannot cool down the cabin fast enough. To cool the cabin fast, you need to turn on your A/C on full blast after rolling down your windows then turn off the recirculate function to let out the trapped hot air inside the vehicle.
Letting In Fresh Air
As mentioned earlier, turning on the recirculate function keeps pollutants from getting inside your car. Keeping external air out means that you also limit the amount of oxygen coming in as well. If you are driving for long hours, you can expose yourself to high concentration of carbon dioxide which is not good for your health. If you are using the recirculate function while driving for long hours, you need to turn the function off after every 15 to 30 minutes to replenish the amount of oxygen in your car. Only do this in open air spaces and avoid congested areas so as not to let in harmful fumes in your car.
Cuts Down Fuel Costs
According to a research conducted by the US Renewable-Energy Laboratory, modern cars consume about 4 hp power. To cut down on fuel costs, you can turn off the recirculate function to allow in cold air, which in turn makes the A/C work less. If you live in an area that experiences warm or hot conditions in a year, this practice is not applicable.
Removes Windshield Fogging
When there is a difference between the air inside a car and the air outside the car, this result in windshield fogging. Windshield fogging usually takes place in the morning when the air is colder than the rest of the day. To prevent or remove fogging, you need to turn off the recirculate function in order for the cold air outside your car to get inside and balance the temperature inside. Doing this also helps you to cut down on fuel costs as mentioned earlier in this post.If your car has a defogger, then this is a different case. Instead of turning off your recirculate function, you can simply use the defogger to get rid of fog on your windshield.
As you can see, the recirculate function has many uses in a car than most drivers are aware of. Take advantage of this feature to help you cut down on fuel costs as well as keep your car cool during hot weather conditions.