Is it possible to cool down your car with the recirculate air mode activated?

[yhelothar]

Say it's 85F in your car and 65F outside. Will turning the air to cold but with recirculate on cool the cabin?

 

[coxmaster]

Uh. Yes. Why wouldn't it cool down?

You aren't just recirculating the air, it also cools the air. Thereby cooling your car

 

[LTC8K6]

That's the quickest way to cool or heat the cabin...

 

[yhelothar]

Uh. Yes. Why wouldn't it cool down?

You aren't just recirculating the air, it also cools the air. Thereby cooling your car

So recirculate mode doesn't just recirculate air?
It seems that it'd cool faster if you turned off recirculate air since it'd be blowing the cooler outside air in. Recirculate air seems like if you had a fan on in your house. It wouldn't really cool down your house as hot air in -> hot air out.
I'm just going by semantic definitions as I don't know how it actually works in the car.

 

[LTC8K6]

The A/C would be on, so you'd be recirc'ing the cooled air.

 

[GoSharks]

The A/C would be on, so you'd be recirc'ing the cooled air.

Not unless you actually turned the A/C on.

 

[LTC8K6]

Not unless you actually turned the A/C on.

ACC would turn the A/C on in the OP situation, and so would anyone who wanted to cool the cabin quickly. :biggrin:

 

[LTC8K6]

Recirc most likely turns on the compressor in all cars to prevent humidity buildup.

 

[yhelothar]

Recirc most likely turns on the compressor in all cars to prevent humidity buildup.

It doesn't. In my car, if I turn the AC on, it's easy to tell the compressor turns on since the idle RPM would go up by about 200. If I turn on the recirc, nothing happens to the engine RPM.

 

[exdeath]

No point in worrying about it. If it's cooler outside than in the car, turn the air on but keep both the windows down for the few blocks and let some breeze through to flush out the cabin air.

Recirc just changes the ducting for the air source, it should have no affect on whether the AC is cycling or not. If the compressor isn't coming on in recirc despite your AC being turned on, you have a problem in your HVAC system.

 

[HarryLui]

Say it's 85F in your car and 65F outside. Will turning the air to cold but with recirculate on cool the cabin?

Only with the a/c on. Beside, it's faster to roll down the windows.

 

[yhelothar]

Rolling down the windows kills gas mileage on long freeway commutes, and the freeways where I commute on smell like a combination of cow dung and diesel trucks, so I would only want to keep recirc on.

 

[exdeath]

Rolling down the windows kills gas mileage on long freeway commutes, and the freeways where I commute on smell like a combination of cow dung and diesel trucks, so I would only want to keep recirc on.

You don't need to leave them down. Just a few blocks to flush the hot air out when you first get going.

 

[yhelothar]

You don't need to leave them down. Just a few blocks to flush the hot air out when you first get going.

I hear ya, but it warms up pretty quick in sunny california. Often it'll be fairly cool outside despite it being really sunny so that the greenhouse effect would do it's work with all the windows rolled up.
I'd have to lower the windows for a few secs every 2-3 minutes.
I usually just leave the recirc air on and vent out windows every few minutes.

But I'm just wondering if recirc really cools down the cabin. It somewhat seems to help, but not by much so it could just be a placebo, or the feeling of the current can feel cooler even if it's the same temperature since convection would occur faster with moving air than stale air.

 

[exdeath]

I hear ya, but it warms up pretty quick in sunny california. Often it'll be fairly cool outside despite it being really sunny so that the greenhouse effect would do it's work with all the windows rolled up.
I'd have to lower the windows for a few secs every 2-3 minutes.
I usually just leave the recirc air on and vent out windows every few minutes.

But I'm just wondering if recirc really cools down the cabin. It somewhat seems to help, but not by much so it could just be a placebo, or the feeling of the current can feel cooler even if it's the same temperature since convection would occur faster with moving air than stale air.

It will take longer to cool air that is 20 deg hotter.

Also, leave your windows cracked like half an inch and get a reflective sun shade. That half an inch in the windows alone is the difference between being able to get in your car without seeing IR waves vs. walking into a blast furnace when you open the door.

 

[yhelothar]

It will take longer to cool air that is 20 deg hotter.

Also, leave your windows cracked like half an inch and get a reflective sun shade. That half an inch in the windows alone is the difference between being able to get in your car without seeing IR waves vs. walking into a blast furnace when you open the door.

Yup I always keep my sunroof cracked on those sunny days to let it vent. I'm just trying to gather the best way to keep my car cool on those cool sunny days on my daily commute while being economical.

It looks like i'll probably keep the recirc/fan on, while cracking the windows open periodically.

 

[mvbighead]

I must be missing something. Why crack the windows periodically? I was under the impression that xdeath was suggesting to crack the windows to purge the hot air from a car that has been sitting in the heat. When that air is gone, just run the AC... right? I can't see a need to continue venting out cooled air every few minutes.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

I must be missing something. Why crack the windows periodically? I was under the impression that xdeath was suggesting to crack the windows to purge the hot air from a car that has been sitting in the heat. When that air is gone, just run the AC... right? I can't see a need to continue venting out cooled air every few minutes.

OP doesn't want to run the AC because he is being "economical"...

 

[exdeath]

Once the interior is cooled, its more economical to keep the windows up. Introducing outside air is going to get the AC working harder cooling down warmer air, and you are creating drag when driving high speed with the windows down.

Why not just leave the windows up and turn down the thermostat on the AC? That will keep the cabin air breezy but will run the compressor less.

 

[yhelothar]

OP doesn't want to run the AC because he is being "economical"...

Yup. I run the AC when it's really hot outside, but if it's 60-70F outside, it seems that there should be much more economical ways to cool down the car.
Today my car's thermometer said it was 56F outside, but it's a sunny day today and inside my car was easily 85-90F. Even if i aired it out, it'd heat up to over 80 again in about 3-5minutes with the windows closed.

Running the fan on recirc or no recirc actually didn't help cool the cabin down.

 

[ElFenix]

on a lot of fords the only way to turn on recirc was to use the a/c

on my car cracking the sunroof with the recirc off draws outside air through the cabin.

 

[yhelothar]

on a lot of fords the only way to turn on recirc was to use the a/c

on my car cracking the sunroof with the recirc off draws outside air through the cabin.

I don't think that's true for my Camry. There could be a horrible odor outside and if I turned on the recirc, none of it would get into my car despite my AC being off.

 

[Throckmorton]

If it's 65F outside, running the AC in recirc mode makes no sense... you're just wasting energy cooling 85F to 75F when you can just suck in fresh 65F air...

Why is there even any debate about this?

 

[Throckmorton]

Yup I always keep my sunroof cracked on those sunny days to let it vent. I'm just trying to gather the best way to keep my car cool on those cool sunny days on my daily commute while being economical.

It looks like i'll probably keep the recirc/fan on, while cracking the windows open periodically.

Why would you use recirc at all? Turn on vent mode, AC off, and suck in cool air from outside. When it gets too cold, turn the temperature knob and it will mix warm air from the heater.

Am I missing something???

 

[acx]

Doesn't air intake flow over the engine block? If the engine is hot, the air you suck in will be hotter than outside ambient as well by the time it reaches the cabin?