Archive for the ‘car air conditioning’ Category

Air Con Is ‘Most Wanted’ In-Car Feature

Friday, August 27th, 2010, by Richard Salmon

According to a recent survey, air conditioning is the in-car feature topping the most-wanted list of motorists around the UK, despite the country’s unreliable climate.

The figures emanate from a report put together by ExchangeandMart.co.uk and suggests that a mammoth 81% of people class air-con as essential and would name it as a decisive factor when purchasing a new car.  

In contrast, 67% said a TV or DVD player for passengers isn’t important at all and 58% say the same about sub woofers.

Commenting on the poll, Michael Tang, Marketing Communications Manager at Exchange and Mart, said: “Our survey shows that motorists value practical features the most. When we asked respondents to name the essential items, air conditioning was the clear winner with 81% agreeing, followed by alarms and immobilisers with 68%. In contrast, TV/DVD players and sub woofers were only crucial to 9%.”

In Europe, air conditioning in vehicles is exhibiting the biggest growth, over the last 10 years going from close to zero to a 95 per cent prevalence. Does that mean the other 5% are left pointing fans at themselves or other types of portable air conditioning?

A/C does, of course, slightly add to fuel consumption though having the windows open would also increase wind resistance which can add up to 10% to your fuel consumption, especially at speed.

For an air conditioning service for your car, office or home, contact Airconco today.

GM set the tone with greener air conditioning systems

Monday, July 26th, 2010, by Richard Salmon

air-conGM are keen to promote their greenhouse gas-friendly air conditioning unit in a bid to overcome the bad PR that surrounded their bailout by the US and Canadian Governments.

Any car purchased before the 1990′s was installed with a air conditioning unit most likely powered by Freon (R-12). The company were ideal in giving drivers a comfortable environment and even better at releasing greenhouse gases that were harmful to the ozone layer. So in the mid 1990′s GM’s switched to a less harmful R-134a.

The R-134a quickly became more popular but still emits greenhouse gases into the envrionment that don’t break down very quickly. The refirgerant has an atmospheric life of more than 13 years which gives it a global warming potential (GWP) rating over 1,400.

So through a partnership with Honeywell the new GM air conditioning unit will use HFO-1234yf a chemical that breaks down much faster in the air than a R134a. And instead of 13 years the chemical breaks down in 11 days making the GWP 4, which is 99.7 per cent lower than R-134a.

The greener air conditioning system will be used in 2013 editions of the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac models in the US. The new air con system will not only hit EPA’s new motor vehicle greenhouse gas regulations for 2016, but it will also set the standards for car companies around the globe.