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But Ford seemed to indicate at the owners' event they hosted that switching to recirculated air and turning down the temp would actually cause the compressor to work less hard -- and reduce the energy needed to run it. This was back in the '05 model year before the introduction of "climate control" (we '05 owners can't set our temperature... we just have the warm/cold blend dial that controls how cool the air is that blows out.)
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The FEH until 08 has a manual a/c system. In this system the compressor runs continuously or until the low side pressure is near freezing. Warm heated air is blended with the a/c cooled air to controll the duct temp. This is done with the cold/warm knob, a cable and a blend door. The a/c system has a pressure switch that will shut off the compressor when the low side pressure is about 29 psi. This pressure corresponds to about 33 deg F. This is done to keep the evaporator from freezing into a block of ice. So if you turn the cold/warm knob to cold and reduce the blower the evaporator will receive less heat and it will drop in temp causing the pressure switch to cycle shutting down the a/c compressor for a few seconds or till the pressure rises to about 40 psi. I have been considering adding some kind of thermostat to the system via this pressure switch to cycle the compressor instead of blending heated air to warm the a/c. This would probably result in some savings on the highway.
Ducit Amour Hybridae
Mark Smith
Master Certifited Technician
Tempus non reparabilis fugit
"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
Best Tank 35.0 MPG
