How much gas used in an hour?

[sarity945]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone knows how much gas does a car (of various sized engines ) use per hour when simply idling using either the Ac or the Heater?

Have people or companies done tests and the reports published?

Would love some information on this. Thanks.

 

[ctechbob]

These guys are well worth the watch. They do some super cool stuff.




Or if you want to skip the video (2hrs Idle Time):

 

[sarity945]

These guys are well worth the watch. They do some super cool stuff.

Thanks for the reference, Definitely a col video and along the lines of what i was asking. I will be checking out their other videos.

However they did the test only for the idling part but not when the car is idling as well as under the load of the AC or Heater, which is what i was asking. Would you happen to know any test results while the AC/Heater is running?

 

[ctechbob]

Thanks for the reference, Definitely a col video and along the lines of what i was asking. I will be checking out their other videos.

However they did the test only for the idling part but not when the car is idling as well as under the load of the AC or Heater, which is what i was asking. Would you happen to know any test results while the AC/Heater is running?

Not off the top of my head.

Heater would be naff all since you're looking at very little power in the grand scheme of things to run the blower. I can't imagine AC would be a ton more. Maybe 10%? Just a guess.

 

[Jetronic]

Thanks for the reference, Definitely a col video and along the lines of what i was asking. I will be checking out their other videos.

However they did the test only for the idling part but not when the car is idling as well as under the load of the AC or Heater, which is what i was asking. Would you happen to know any test results while the AC/Heater is running?

Heater makes a small difference, but AC can be huge. it depends how much the AC has to work. You could possibly double the fuel consumption.

The heater just channels heat from the front radiator to the inside radiator, no practical difference in consumption

 

[Jetronic]

Not off the top of my head.

Heater would be naff all since you're looking at very little power in the grand scheme of things to run the blower. I can't imagine AC would be a ton more. Maybe 10%? Just a guess.

I would say no power as the radiator fan up front will likely not cycle on.

 

[andrew_j]

I left my 95 Civic running for 12 hrs and it seemed to be under 0.5 gallon/hr working.

 

[shortyb]

In the dead of summer, with A/C on full blast, I have noticed very little consumption during long (1-2 hour) periods of idling. Ford PUV (police utility vehicle) 3.3 V6 with full lights, mobile internet/CAD, in-car video, and radios electrical load. Winter with heat blasting is even less. Like the fuel gauge doesn't move at all. Might do an experiment for next shift where I'll fill it up and then go idle for an hour. Go fill back up and see how much it takes.

 

[JWC86]

I’ve done testing since I sometimes idle my truck for 12 hours a day.

Ford 7.3L Gas burns around 2.5 L/hr

Ford 6.7L Diesel burns 1.8-2.0 L/hr

Both of them don’t change much with the AC on, I’m guessing because they are big engines the AC isnt much of a load to them like a smaller engine.

 

[Opelman]

Interesting question, I've toyed with an idea in the past of installing a gph, gallons per hour gauge from a marine application in one of my old cars or trucks.

 

[dumkid]

The a/c has a bigger effect on smaller engines. If you've ever driven a car with a/c and less than 100 HP (or a really small engine like 1.2l) when you turn the a/c on you can really hear it bog that little engine down until the computer compensates. The a/c also makes a difference in acceleration.

Turn on the a/c on a big block anything and it'll just chug along almost like nothing changed.

Some cars with a low idle speed will be affected by the a/c more than if they idled higher. My Mitsubishi idles at like 500 rpm in drive at a stop light. When the a/c compressor kicks on it'll bog for a second and then idle at like 700 rpm until the a/c turns off again.

 

[fantastic]

Test your vehicle. Fuel up at murphy's walmart, go shopping, while you run the a/c for one hour. Fuel up again to get the amount of fuel used.

 

[KrisZ]

I think I've seen some vehicles the dash MPG display change to GPH when stationary or maybe it was LPH in some European rental I had. Not sure, but I know I've seen it and though that was neat.

In any case, it can range quite a bit depending on engine size. For a small 4 cylinder engine, 1L per hour is probably a good estimate.

 

[andrew_j]

Father in law F150 4.2 was a little over .5 gallons/hr running 2000 W inverter clipped the to battery during recent coastal floods

 

[Toro50cutter]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone knows how much gas does a car (of various sized engines ) use per hour when simply idling using either the Ac or the Heater?

Have people or companies done tests and the reports published?

Would love some information on this. Thanks.

I had a 2012 Chevy Cruze 1.8L. I routinely idled for an hour or more with the AC running in the summertime. It had a gas monitor on it which was very cool. It always averaged .4 gallons an hour under load.

Fast forward to our cars at work which are Explorer’s with the 3.5 NA 6 cylinder, we burn around 5 gallons a shift (8 hours) while mostly idling and driving 10 miles during that time. So, I would say most NA engines around .4-.6 gallons an hour. Just my completely unscientific experience lol

 

[Rmay635703]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone knows how much gas does a car (of various sized engines ) use per hour when simply idling using either the Ac or the Heater?

Have people or companies done tests and the reports published?

Would love some information on this. Thanks.

Buy a scan guage and you can immediately answer such questions.

Lowest idle fuel consumption was a 2002 TDI Jetta 0.1gph

Highest is my 5.2 V8 Dodge Ram 1500 (1gph)

1999 Insight. 0.18gph
2010 Cobalt XFE .3gph
1998 3800 v6 0.56gph

The AC can have a massive effect on smaller engine idle consumption as such I didn’t carefully track it.

Heat generally has minimal affect if you don’t set everything to max but it can have the effect of elongating the time to get to operating temperature which is bad,
Defroster can be as bad as AC (because it usually runs the ac)

 

[JavierH19]

I have a basic Bluetooth obd 2 reader and with it I can measure instant fuel consumption and I measured 0.4-0.5 gals per hours in my 5.3, 6.0, and 6.2 gm trucks at hot idle no ac and in park. In drive it bumps up and a bit more with ac.

 

[Traction]

No matter how you slice it, the fuel mileage on an idling engine is less than zero.

 

[350Rocket]

Hi

I was wondering if anyone knows how much gas does a car (of various sized engines ) use per hour when simply idling using either the Ac or the Heater?

Have people or companies done tests and the reports published?

Would love some information on this. Thanks.

Torque pro can read gallons per hour on my 05 Silverado. I get around 0.36-0.39 gph idling when warmed up.

 

[350Rocket]

I have a basic Bluetooth obd 2 reader and with it I can measure instant fuel consumption and I measured 0.4-0.5 gals per hours in my 5.3, 6.0, and 6.2 gm trucks at hot idle no ac and in park. In drive it bumps up and a bit more with ac.

I just posted mine, which is 0.36-0.38 gph but forgot to mention it's the 4.8L LR4 engine. Idling is probably the only time it uses less fuel than the 5.3.