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Remember to Turn of the A/C

August 2, 2009 by Simon

It’s still summer and some days can be really hot. Remember that as soon as you turn on the A/C you could be loosing as much as 10MPG, the A/C is a real power hog.

Do this:

1. Turn off the A/C
2. If that’s not possible adjust the temperature setting to just a little bit cooler than outside instead of super cool. This will make the A/C use less power.
3. Open all doors for a couple  of minutes before you go, this will let a lot of extra heat out of the car and reduce the need for A/C
4. Open the windows if you are going at low speed. At high speed it’s more economical to use the A/C as the open windows will ruin the aerodynamics of the car and work as an air-break.
5. Park the car in the shade to keep it cool (you’ll keep the paintwork from fading too)
6. If you go on a longer trip consider driving at night if you can stay awake. You not only get away from the heat you also get away from daytime and rush hour traffic.

Do this and save some gas during hot summer days!

Dedicated to improving your fuel economy,

Simon Byholm
MilesGallon.com

Is Your Gas Cap Missing?

May 25, 2008 by Simon

With the hot summer weather soon here I want to share with you a summer time gas saving tip. It’s one of the tips you can get for free in our email cource on saving gas

I must admit that before I started researching fuel economy I had no idea that driving without a gas cap would make any significant difference to my fuel economy,

But it does!

Loosing your gas cap and not replacing it can cost you up to 15 gallons of gas a year, and even more if you live in a hot climate.

With no lid on the gas tank fuel will constantly evaporate from the tank into the air.

Poof, gone…

Not only will you loose fuel but the extra gas added to the atmosphere will contribute to the greenhouse effect.

If you loose our gas cap, immediately go buy a new one from your car dealer or local mechanic. You will pay less for the new cap than for all the fuel you loose without a cap.

This technique may give you savings of 3 mpg or more depending on how hot and dry the climate is around you and if you have an additional lid on top of the missing gas cap that prevents some of the leakage.

Dedicated to improving you fuel economy,

Simon Byholm
MilesGallon.com

P.S. To find out your real MPG just use our free gas calculator, or try the metric mileage calculator if you’re from outside the United States.

Worst Mileage Ever

December 1, 2007 by Simon

I just added my last tank to my gaslog at gassavers.org and it turned out to be my worst tank ever with this car. The milage ended up being 37mpg which is a lot less than my record of 42.5 mpg and mean mileage of 41 mpg.

I suspect it’s the winter temperatures that’s now below zero that’s affecting the mileage. On my 15km commute the engine just about reaches working temperature at the end of the ride even when using the block heater for two hours before takeing off.

I will just have to wait for the next fillup to see if the trend is permanent.

Dedicated to improving your fuel economy,

Simon Byholm
MilesGallon.com

P.S. I use the automotive conversion calculator to convert mileage and fuel amounts between American and European units.

Pictures of My Car Heating System

November 25, 2007 by Simon

I thought some of your may not have seen any engine heating system if you live south and as this one is connected to the Finnish electricity grid you won’t recognice the electricity connectors if you live outsitde this part of Europe.

The first part is the timer that lets me connect the heating when I get home from work and have it turn on two to four hours before I go to work the next day. I use two hours during the mild part of winter and four hours when it’s really cold.

Then theres the cable connecting the mains from the timer to the car. Theres a small handy socket in the front left of the car where I plug in the power, we also have a couple of heating sockets at work so if I’m in time I can have heater on also before leaving for home.

Inside the car the cabling goes to the block heater and to the inside heating fan.

The cable outside the car should be made of oil and cold resistant material as otherwise it will get stiff as a stick and oil on the ground can eat through normal cabling.

I included a pic of the engine even though you can’t see the heater, it’s a block heater and if you could see it it would just be a cable going into the engine block as the heater is inside the engine heating the coolant.

As you can see it’s pretty crowded in the engine compartment so I didn’t find where the heater is located but it does work so I believe it’s where it’s supposed to be.

The other part of the heating system is a heating fan heating the inside of the car making it more comfortable and melting ice of the windows saving me five minutes of idling and manual ice-removal.

The block heater helps with mileage as the engine uses less fuel when warm and the inside heater lets me take off immediatly instead of idling for five minutes while taking the ice off the windows. It also make the driving a lot more comfortable as the engine does not heat up enought to provide much heat during my 15 mintue commute.

Dedicated to improving your mileage,

Simon Byholm
MilesGallon.com

It’s Time For The Block Heater

October 22, 2007 by Simon

If you live up in the north like me, now is the time to find the engine heater, or in my case the power cord for the block heater. It near freezing temperatures here and I have started to use the block heater during the colder nights to save fuel when starting,  remember a cold engine uses a lot of fuel.

It’s a good idea to remind the rest of the family that there’s a cable attached to the car, otherwise you might end up with a broken cable or timer. Talking about the timer, I always put the timer on two hours when it’s still mild temperatures to not waste electricity.

Keep the winter driving safe, Ha ha says my wife.

Simon

Save Gas In Hot and Cold Weather

September 30, 2007 by Simon

This is an article I just wrote. It is going to be part of the fuel saving lessons you can via email at the Gas Mileage Calculator page. It’s about some of the ways you can save gas when it’s really hot or when it’s freezing temperatures.

Save Gas When It’s HOT or COLD
===============================

Did you know that when it’s really hot in summer and when
it’s really cold in winter (snow and ice like) you can
save extra gas by preventing the effects of weather from
ruining your fuel economy?

Really Hot Weather, And How to Save

The number #1 gas thief in summer is the air condition. It’s
a heavy equipment that uses a lot of power and that power
comes from the engine using up more fuel.

Too bad it’s not as easy as just turning the AC off. Ok,
it is that easy, just turn the AC off and you will save
a bunch if gas. That’s easy.

The problem is what you do after you turn the A/C off,
maybe not all your passengers can stand the heat and
soon windows are open or even worse the A/C is back on.

The problems with the windows is that driving above 30mph
with open windows causes a lot of drag. It’s like cutting
a couple of large holes in the body of your car destroying
the fine aerodynamics built into it.

This means if you go faster than 30mph it’s better to use
the AC than to have you windows open. If you are going
at or below 30mph you will save fuel by have the windows
open instead of using the A/C.

If it’s really hot you might want to use the A/C even
if it costs you a couple of bucks. I won’t blame you.

You can still save by setting the indoor temperature a bit
higher letting the AC run at low power instead of full.

It’s also a good way to prevent getting a summer cold to not
set the indoor temperature too low when you are dressed
for the outdoor summer temperatures anyway.

Now to a completely different aspect of hot weather, make sure
you have a fuel cap and that it’s not broken!

This is essential as the car will get extremely hot when left
in the sun on an asphalt parking lot. This means the fuel also
gets hot and if there is no cap or a broken cap a lot of fuel
will evaporate, it turns into gas and leaks out into the air.
You still pay. And it’s bad for the environment.

Another thin you can do to prevent loosing fuel is to fill up
early in the morning or late in the evening.

There is two reasons for this. One is the same as above, fuel
will evaporate easier when it’s hot and you have the cap of
when filling up. The other reason is that the fuel will be
colder on the morning, making it more dense. You pay per
gallon or liter and if the fuel is more dense you will get
a little bit more fuel for every liter you pump.

Easy, fill up before the sun goes up. Or at least before it
gets too hot, the sun goes up at 4am here in summer and I’m
not awake at that time. If I’m not still at the computer
since last night that is, but in that case I don’t go
to fill up anyway.

Now to Cold Weather, Freezing Weather

The colder it is the more you can save. Not because of
some strange reverse logic but because normally your fuel
economy suffers from the cold weather and you can get
it back to normal, at least almost, with some simple
measures.

Step one: Get a block heater.

That’s important both for your fuel economy and for the
health of your engine. (If temperatures never go below
30F/0C in your area you don’t need to worry about a block
heater, you will benefit already at 50F/10C but it will
probably cost more than you gain.

The block heater uses electricity from the mains to
heat the engine before you go off to work, 1 hour is
usually enough but it depends on the outside temperature.

A cold engine will not be able to burn fuel efficiently,
there is usually a lot of smoke and it feels like you
had only a third of your normal horsepower (which is true)

The cold engine also doesn’t get lubricated well enough,
it will old quicker and in places where you have several
months of freezing weather, not using a block heater will
halve the life of the engine. If you drive short trips
it might not even go a 100 thousand miles before it’s
finished.

That was to say you have a double benefit, even a triple
benefit of the block heater. You save gas, you save your
engine and as the engine is now hot it will heat the
passenger area quicker, it’s no fun driving when it’s
freezing temperatures inside the car 🙂

Another thing, if you use winter/snow tires, in most
cases they will hurt your fuel economy as they are
made for grip, not to roll easily.

Make sure you switch to summer tires as soon as it’s
possible in spring. The summer tires roll easier
and you save gas.

WHERE TO GET AN ENGINE HEATER

If you are one of our US readers and need an engine
heater for just a few days in winter I’ve found
a cheap solution at Amazon.

It’s a magnetic heater that you can easily attach
to the oil pan under the engine whenever you need
extra heat in cold weather.

Kats 200W Magnetic Heater from Amazon

Use that link to see the heater. It can also be used
to heat water tanks, tractor engines or other things
made of steel.

Dedicated to improving your fuel economy,

Simon Byholm
MilesGallon.com

Where I live in Finland almost every car has a block heater installed. If you don’t have a block heater in the coldest weeks in February your car might not start. And even if it does start it will be smoking, without power and a real pain to drive until it warms up.

If you have story to tell about how you save gas in hot and cold weather just leave a comment here below this post.