A/C vs MPG

Last month we drove 2500 miles much of it in the south with temperatures predominantly above 100F. While traveling dead slow in a construction zone the temperature gage starting rising rapidly so I turned off the A/C and pulled over at the next opportunity. I discovered that one of the two radiator cooling fans had failed completely. Okay, simple, now we continue our journey without A/C. Not too many more miles down the road it was becoming obvious how much the temperate climate in Seattle has spoiled us over the years. Unless we were moving at least 50MPH we could not use the A/C (of course at those speeds the breeze was sufficient) and the temperatures were basically unbearable. What to do?? I finally realized that I could reduce the A/C load on the engine cooling system if I could bypass the A/C "reheat" function. So I turned the A/C temperature setpoint to max cool (no airflow through the heater core in this mode) and recirculate (no danger of interior windshield fogging at these temperatures) and manually controlled the blower speed to regulate the cabin temperature. So for the next 2300 miles we had A/C comfort in spite of the fan failure and the gage never rose substantial even in slow moving city traffic. Makes on wonder how much fuel is being sacrificed due to poor A/C design.

When I first moved to Redmond from the South 10 years ago, I thought to myself, "I can't believe how cold it is here, the warm weather of the South has really spoiled me." 10 years later when I moved back to the South, I thought to myself, "I can't believe how hot it is here, the cool weather of the PNW has really spoiled me." Now when friends from Seattle visit and it's a perfect day here (say 85� and sunny) I get a good laugh over how hot they think it is. Although I could live here 100 years and still wouldn't want to drive around during July and August without AC --November is the best month to visit the South.

Looking BACK... Several years ago I was at a family 4th of July reunion in AR, it was 100F+ in the shade, humidity high, as always. Cousin and I were standing on the edge of his property bordered by a cotton field when he asked me if I remembered working in the fields in this type of heat. After I answered in the affirmative he asked: "how in hell did we do that??