So far I've noticed that the A/C doesn't contribute that much to fuel economy.
But if you guys manage to keep it under 100km/h on the highway, you should see some major improvements....Yes, I know that is a difficult thing for some people
On another note, did you guys know that the external air vent for the A/C has no filter or grill or mesh or anything to block particles from getting into your A/C system
I discovered this after 'baby snake incident' a few months back. Snake crawled in one morning while parked at home and while on my way to work I opened the external vent to get some fresh air in the van. The 'vent valve' (to switch between external and internal air) is like a trap door over the blower which dropped and chopped the snake into little bits in the blower. At that point you can imagine how
fresh the air was
Had to drive without the A/C for a couple weeks before I could properly clean it out. (this is how I know about the fuel economy thing)
I've noticed lately that the dry dusty conditions we have everywhere is actually forcing dust into the external vent system. Every time I open the external vent I hear a bit of dust falling and it gets blown through the vents. I think I'll have to fabricate some sort of filter/cover for the external vent. Unfortunately, the only proper place to put it is in a very hard place to reach by hand and you have to remove your wipers, the plastic weather stripping on both sides of the windscreen and the plastic cover at the base of the wipers to get at it.
I'll throw up some pics later to show you...
