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Takket

(23,290 posts)
15. AC occures from a condenser/compressor cycle, just like your refrigerator or home AC unit
Thu May 18, 2023, 07:36 PM
May 2023

The compressor is the "power hog" of the cycle. It uses a lot of power to compress refrigerant as part of the cycle. That requires a certain amount of horsepower to accomplish, and the designers of your car have figured into their performance specs how much horsepower is required to give you the engine performance you need while the AC is also scavenging power away at the same time.

In short: No. if it takes 5 horsepower to run your compressor than it takes 5 horsepower regardless of how much power your engine is producing. The only thing you'll notice is you might have to press down a bit farther on gas to get the power you need when going up a hill if your AC is on full blast, but cooling performance wouldn't change.

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Are you referring to air conditioning? NT Enter stage left May 2023 #1
Yes. Sorry I didn't make that clear. raccoon May 2023 #9
Maybe fifty years ago. DemocratSinceBirth May 2023 #2
What does that even mean? bucolic_frolic May 2023 #3
Nowadays, I think both are the same. Decades ago, 4-cylinders could Silent Type May 2023 #4
Not really no Zeitghost May 2023 #5
A good number of 4 cylinder engines are turbocharged and make more HP than 6 cylinders MichMan May 2023 #6
No doubt Zeitghost May 2023 #8
That's 70HP Higher Than My V-6 ProfessorGAC May 2023 #11
TSI engine? NutmegYankee May 2023 #14
Yes, TSI MichMan May 2023 #16
I have a 2019 1.8L TSI NutmegYankee May 2023 #20
Not sure of hp, but my 1.8T gets it going. Love the 2.0 and 1.8s. Silent Type May 2023 #18
Not sure of the question, I guess you are referring to the AC? captain queeg May 2023 #7
I drive a 4 cylinder Honda civic, the a/c doesn't take any power away from the engine Meadowoak May 2023 #10
It really gets nice and cool and doesn't take away from the performance. Meadowoak May 2023 #13
No reason they would. Turning the AC compressor only takes a tiny amount of power. NutmegYankee May 2023 #12
AC occures from a condenser/compressor cycle, just like your refrigerator or home AC unit Takket May 2023 #15
On some cars the relay to the a/c compressor is controlled by a module taxi May 2023 #17
I know all of the ozone depletion, etc, etc... roamer65 May 2023 #19
My Mazda 2 doesn't cool very fast. Xolodno May 2023 #21
Any cylinder car puts most of its energy into heat, Ron Green May 2023 #22
My 2017 4 cylinder Honda Accord has the horsepower of an early 80s Mustang GT 5.0L V8 Kennah May 2023 #23
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Do six cylinder cars cool...»Reply #15