Turning off the air-conditioning

January 3, 2008 By Leave a Comment

The first success story of the year!

Last year I noticed that the air-conditioning was turning itself on every time I started the engine. I thought this must increase the amount of fuel that I use unnecessarily.

Well, after I went to the bio-ethanol petrol station today I asked the person who sold me the car – and they had the answer!

The air-conditioning only turns itself on if the air-ducts are set to blow only on the windscreen. This is apparently to help clear the windscreen quicken in winter.

So now I’ve change the setting and I hope to notice a difference in the bio-ethanol usage.

Filed Under: Bio-Ethanol, Temp Tagged With: ,

Where did my 26km go?

November 27, 2007 By 6 Comments

I’ve lost 26km!  At least, that is what the on-board computer is now telling me.

OK, here’s what happened: I filled up on Friday with bio-ethanol before I went away for the weekend.  With a full tank, the computer calculated that I had 448km remaining, and no longer 474km.

Now, I know this is only a rough estimate and averaged over my usage, but that’s still quite a leap.

Whilst out over the weekend, I think I may have found the answer: whenever I start car, the air-conditioning automatically switches on.  I compared the fuel consumption figures and turning off the air-conditioning saves about 2 litres per 100km, so if I don’t turn it off every time I start the car, I am using more fuel than necessary.

I wonder if there is a way to turn it off permanently, at least until I want it on.  Or is there a reason to have it on all the time?

Filed Under: Bio-Ethanol, Temp

474km

November 21, 2007 By 1 Comment

My on-board computer has finally calculated that I can drive 474km on a full tank of bio-ethanol. This is only 77% of the distance, that I used to manage of a full tank of petrol.

I knew in advance that this was going to be the case, but now I have figures to back it up.

In other words, I need 30% more litres of bio-ethanol than petrol to travel the same distance.

Since bio-ethanol costs 0.899EUR per litre, a 30% increase means an effective price of 1.16EUR per litre, which compared to around 1.42EUR for super (95 octane) at the moment, is still a good bargain.

It’s just a shame, that I have to fill up so often!

Filed Under: Bio-Ethanol, Temp

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