Do you have a hot car?
As we dive into summer, I look forward to our family vacation. My wife and four kids and I are off to a cottage this summer. To prepare ourselves for a trouble-free drive of 5 hours, I took our van in for a check up. The sad news was that our air conditioning wasn’t working. How can we stay cool while driving now?
Staying cool while driving is always a good thing, and I don’t just mean your temper. Keeping the interior cool will help you make good driving choices as you make your day to day journeys. It all starts when you get to your vehicle after it’s been parked in the sun all day. What do you do to cool down the interior?
I remember as a kid that the windows were always open. We didn’t have air conditioning back then, so we did our best to stay cool. We rarely had conversations with our parents who were in the front seat, with me and my sister in the backseat, because the sound of the wind blocking out their voices. Looking back, that wasn’t always a bad thing.
The first thing to do when you come to your parked vehicle is to open a couple of doors and start the engine. Turn on the air conditioning blower on a medium speed and wait approximately 30 seconds before getting in. The hot air will be a total distraction for you while driving, so no need to be in a hurry to get in and drive away. After another 30 seconds get in the car, open the windows and keep the blower on medium speed for another 30 seconds. This should get rid of most of the hot air sitting in your vehicle.
Now you’re ready to start driving. Roll up the widows, except for the last inch on both the driver’s side and the passenger side. As you drive, the air that blows through the slight open window will blend with the air conditioning and help keep the interior cool for driving, without using a lot of energy from having the air conditioning on full blast to cool down the interior.
**More on fuel economy HERE
These tips will be helpful indeed for the long hot summer. There’s nothing I hate more than sitting on hot leather seats. Parking in the shade and rolling down the windows certainly does seem to help quite a bit.
Thanks for tip!