Horespower consumed by A/C

Anyone know how much hp is consumed by the a/c????

Maybe 10 - 15 hp.

Most modern cars will momentarily turn off the compressor during wide-open throttle. I'd be seriously surprised if that wasn't so on these cars. Therefore, hp loss = zero.

Yes, that's true for our cars as well. HP loss = zero at wot.

What possible difference could it make on a street car? Probably 5 at the most, I turn mine on at the track on hot days with no effect on lap times fwiw.

Now that's real life experience that I was hoping to read about. I turn mine on and don't worry about it. I think having a man's man in the car that weighs 200+ lbs will do much more to slow the car than any A/C.

Maybe in these new fangled things, but I've got an old car where the A/C drops 1/4 mile times by over 1 second, a lot more than a 200lb person will do.

A typical car air conditioner is rated at 13,000 BTU per hour = 3,809 watts = 5.09588394 hp This is only an estimate, but 5 hp is in the right ballpark.

I remember many years ago in drivers ed, A/C systems generally take 4hp, windows down at 60 mph is generally 2hp. Moral of the story from this drivers ed teacher, roll down the windows to conserve fuel.. and this was in 1985 when fuel was way less than a dollar a gallon..

Your driver's ed teacher was a frugal man. LOL. Seriously, if you're an olympic swimmer then it makes sense to shave your legs...otherwise, you look like an *** doing it. I think being comfortable in the car is worth 5hp in my books (especially with my driving skill level - 5 hp won't help me) =)

and this was in 1985 when fuel was way less than a dollar a gallon.. Oh yeah?..................................Where?

My exhaust sounds deeper with the A/C on... weird.

What are you talking about Zman? Regular gas was less than a dollar a gallon when I went to high school in Tampa (class of '89). If you want to see a chart of it, PM me with your email address and I'll forward it to you. UPDATE: Better yet, here's a link to a chart from the web. It's on Page 1.

Ummm... he's talking about the truth? I'm pretty heavily into various forms of fuel investing. 1985 was the end of an upward trend and my data doesn't show a single U.S. region with prices under a dollar (let alone 'way under' a dollar) for regular unleaded on even a single day in 1985. Your chart shows the same thing. Adjusted, prices were actually close to $2 a gallon. Prices eased in 1986. http://zfacts.com/p/35.html

You really can't inflation-adjust fuel prices; CPI is greatly impacted by energy. It'd be like discounting a product by it's own growth. Moreover, nationwide average price of fule at end 85 was approximately $1.20 on the chart. Considering that many states will be under that level and many states will be over that level, it wouldn't be a stretch to suspect that some states had gas for less than a dollar. But, I'll grant you that 'way under' would be a stretch....

Hey Edward! Class of 89 here myself BTW, I remember paying in the 80 and 90 cent range for gas during my high school years. That was in San Antonio near big oil so maybe a few cents less than the rest of the country but I remember thinking I didn't want to pay over $1 for a gallon!

Dell, I hate to point this out, but we're getting really close to the 20th reunion. Can you even imagine that? Further away from high school than we were when we graduated.... Thankfully we have Porsches to drive around in and nurse those thoughts.

It is a sobering thought. But I like where I am now......driving the car I dreamed about instead of staring at it on a poster

Ain't that the truth! Although I still do have a few posters that I stare at when I can't be out driving.