Summer Time A/C Tips in Phoenix
Summer is on its way into the Valley so it’s time to prepare for the heat! One of the main concerns for our customers as things heat up is their vehicles A/C. There’s nothing worse than working all day, then walking out to your car that’s been baking in the sun all day, you get in your extremely hot vehicle and you have to sit and wait for the A/C to cool down the inside of your car. Did you know that during the dead of summer in Arizona, when temperatures are 100-120 degrees outside, the inside temperatures of your vehicle can exceed 150 degrees! We have a few tips we can share with you to help cool off the inside of your vehicle quickly.
Let’s re-visit the hot car scenario mentioned above. After your vehicle has been baking in the hot summer sun all day while you’re at work, it’s important to remember that the temperature inside the vehicle can be at least 20 degrees hotter than the outside temperature. When you get into your car and start it TIP 1 turn on your A/C but do NOT turn it on re-circulate, leave your settings on Fresh-air. Please look below for images that correlate to Fresh air and Re-circulate. Some vehicles for instance Fords may have only Max A/C and A/C.
If you set your A/C on fresh air, the air from outside your vehicle will go through you’re A/C unit and cool things down quicker than re-circulating the hotter air inside the vehicle. This process will force the hot air out of the vehicle. PLEASE BE ADVISED Do NOT run your A/C on fresh air all day because you’re not re-circulating the heat inside your vehicle to get the remaining heat (hot air) out. So once you are in your vehicle and have your A/C settings on Fresh air and you begin to feel your car start to cool off inside, change your settings to re-circulate. You can compare this scenario to your house A/C. If you turn your A/C on at home you wouldn’t leave all the doors and windows open would you? If you don’t switch your settings to re-circulate it’s very similar to leaving all the doors and windows open at you home while the A/C is on.
Another quick tip we can give you is to be mindful of your fan speed. TIP 2 once the air starts to cool off inside your vehicle, and you begin to feel comfortable, turn the fan settings down at least 1 level. Below are a few examples of the fan speed knobs that you might encounter.
We advise our customers to turn down the fan speed because this slows the speed at which the air is going through the system. Slowing down the air speed allows more heat to be extracted from the air going through the Evaporative Core and the air going into the vehicle will be colder. It is important to note on days with excessive heat warnings it may be just too hot to adjust fan speeds lower and stay comfortable in your vehicle.
If you have a bigger vehicle for example Tahoe, Excursion, Suburban, Conversion Van or even a mid size SUV like an Explorer these can be harder to cool because most have rear A/C. Some of these bigger vehicles that have rear A/C have just had hoses and vents added to help cool the back of the vehicle. The problem is the rear A/C operates off the same condenser/compressor as the front A/C. If this is the case, the rear A/C can cause the front A/C to not be as cool. The ways around this problem are very limited but there are still some things you can do. TIP 3 If you DO NOT have anyone including, kids/pets in the back of your vehicle, try to keep the rear A/C fan speed on low-medium. TIP 4 if your vehicle has tinted windows or lighter colored interior your vehicle could stay cooler than other vehicles that do not have these things. A quick item to mention is Sun Shades, sun shades are used more to prevent UV rays from getting into your vehicle and damaging your dash and interior not necessarily to help keep your vehicle cooler inside.
Finally a quick Tip for our RV and Motor Home travelers, Tip 5 if you are able to run your generator while you’re driving you can turn on at least one of your A/C units in the coach while you’re on the road. Running this additional A/C unit while you drive will help cool down the inside of your RV or Motor Home. The A/C unit at the front of your rig is designed to help keep only the front part of your rig cool not the entire coach.
We hope these tips will help you and your family stay cool as the weather begins to warm up. Remember if you ever have any questions please feel free to reach out to one of our friendly staff members at either or Surprise or Goodyear locations. We are always happy to help!