With the arrival of winter and the low temperatures typical of this time of year, it is very likely that we will feel the need to turn on the car heating. Except during hours of maximum solar radiation and in certain warmer geographical areas, where the cold is not perceived as intensely, heating becomes an essential element to maintain a comfortable interior temperature and face adverse weather conditions.
Comfort plays a fundamental role in road safety. It helps reduce fatigue, improves the ability to concentrate, reduces reaction time in the face of unexpected events and minimizes distractions while driving. For this reason it is very important to achieve thermal comfort inside the vehicle by keeping the cabin at a temperature between 19 and 22 degrees.
This is the temperature range that the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) recommends keeping inside the car. Excessive heat can cause drowsiness, a very dangerous condition while driving that can also be caused by taking certain medications, even without a prescription.
But, just as happens in summer with air conditioning, heating the car increases fuel consumption. The engine is forced to work a little harder to generate energy for the car’s auxiliary systems, such as the air conditioning, so every time we turn on the heating we are increasing the cost on the fuel bill.
What we should not do in any case to stop the impact that activating the car heating has on our wallet is to do without hot air and mitigate its effect by driving with lots of warm clothing. In addition to being uncomfortable, we can be penalized with a fine of up to 200 euros for contravening article 18 of the General Driver Regulations which, among other considerations, establishes that “the driver of a vehicle is obliged to maintain his own freedom of movement.”
Instead of wearing warm clothes, the best thing to do to reduce your fuel bill is to put into practice a series of tricks that will allow you to heat the cabin more easily. Let’s see, below, what are those tips that we can put into practice in a simple way.
On days when the sun shines brightly, the best option for the car to warm up is to leave it outdoors. When parking, it is preferable to choose a place where the sun hits so that the temperature in the cabin rises a few degrees. This way, if the sun is still shining when we go to pick up the car, it may not be necessary to turn on the heating or we can delay the time to do so.
When getting into the car, it is a mistake to automatically turn on the heating if the engine is cold, especially first thing in the morning and late at night, when temperatures are usually lower. If we turn on the heating before the engine has warmed up, the only thing we will achieve is to feel more cold, since gusts of cold air will be reaching us. For the hot air to begin to flow, the engine must first warm up, so we will have to wait one or two minutes to activate the heating.
It is advisable to deactivate the air recirculation to allow the entire external flow to pass through the heating radiator with greater intensity, thus reaching the passenger compartment faster and warmer. To maximize the effectiveness of this trick, it is important to keep the exterior grilles of the car free of leaves and any element that could clog them.
Since hot air tends to rise, to make efficient use of the heating we must direct the air from the air conditioner to the feet so that it is distributed evenly throughout the vehicle.
Avoid increasing the temperature immediately. It is more advisable to select an intermediate temperature range, between 21 and 23 degrees, allowing the vehicle to reach it gradually. This is valid for both older cars with mechanical controls of wheels and levers and for more recent models with electronic air conditioning.
A few minutes before arriving at your destination, you can turn off the heating and take advantage of the thermal inertia of the cabin to maintain a comfortable temperature for an additional time. In this way you will be contributing both to fuel savings and to optimizing the car’s energy performance.