A/C not necessary for hot wind. (?)

[csaudis4]

Look, i was talking to folks around me recently and i found this fact: a loooot of these people actually believe that they were supposed to turn on the A/C in the winter to get hot air

i was somewhat like, how do you conclude it like that?

So actually, i decided to ask here and see if it just happened to be these people around me, or is this the misunderstanding among quite many people. And if it's just these people around me, then they'll no longer be my friends hahaha j/k.

Besides, this seemingly mindless post is to let those people who actually believed that they'd need a/c for hot air and keep their A/C on for the whole winter ;) I bet it saves you some gas.

[NWS4Guy]

The A/C compressor has a clutch, and unless you have the temp set cold enough to need artificially colder air that it can pull from outside, the A/C pump is off. The A/C button illuminated doesn't mean it is running. That said, many have to run the A/C to keep the windows from fogging depending on the area of the world/country you live in. No you don't need it on all the time or to use the heat, but if it's 50 outside, and you set the car temps to 78, it will not use the A/C compressor, so having the button on or off means nothing.

[L0U]

I only use ac to get rid of moisture, to prevent condensation on the inside of the windows when it is colder outside than inside the car, or just really humid inside from the occupants.

If you push front defrost, the ac comes on auto. You can select it off manually.

Some cars will not run the ac when it approaches freezing temperatures due to a safety compressor thing with wear on parts at cold temperatures. My B5 would not run below 4 celcius (the ac)

[csaudis4]

Oh boy i didn't know that.

I've checked before. When i set it at similar or higher temp than outside temp, the A/C button is illuminated and in the DIS it still shows the same fuel consumption as when i set the temp lower than outside temp.

However, i've never spent time with my car in the winter. I'll soon have chance to check it out. I wonder if the fuel consumption on the DIS will really decrease if it's extremely low temp outside and i leave A/C on while setting a very high temp inside the car.

I checked just now, it was 12 celsius outside, i set 26 inside the car, and if the A/C is turned on, it's on, it does not automatically adjust the pattern of the compressor. Don't know how it'll turn out if it falls to like 0 degree.

[xtrema]

If you're in Kansas and not near a body of water, you are most likely experience pretty low humidity. The only time I get fogged windows are during rain or from my own breath during winter driving.

[csaudis4]

hehe, my town got a pretty big lake 10 min driving from downtown. It's not the fog issue here tho, it's when nights come, the temp drops so quick that there will be condensation outside the windshield and windows because the interior temp is still at day-time temp. It could be 10-15 degree and we have to use wipers but not the front de-fog ;)