An old piece of fabric can make your air conditioner “brew cold air” for free without using extra fuel, according to engine experts.
The simple trick of using items that anyone would probably have at home can help you beat the heat, with the UK set to enjoy some good weather over the next few days.
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The Met Office is predicting highs of up to 30C as early as next week, when summer looks to finally be upon us.
However, the heat presents some problems for drivers, especially on long journeys cooped up in the car.
A study of the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) suggests that just one hour in the sun on a 26ºC day can cause the vehicle’s internal temperature to quickly rise to 50ºC.
Try sitting like this for a few hours and you’ll quickly feel sick.
Fortunately, Ellie Dyer-Brown of Who can fix my car is on hand with a selection of cheap and cheerful tips for boosting your AC this summer.
This is a great trick as long as you have time to prepare
Ellie Dyer-Brown
One of the lesser-known tricks uses just a piece of fabric you can find around the house and some water.
Just take a cloth or flannel and place it under the cold tap for a few seconds.
When it is very damp, wring it out to avoid drips and stick it to the dashboard to cover the air conditioning ventilation openings.
As anyone who has been drenched in a traditional British downpour can tell you, when the air passes through the water, it starts to feel much colder.
The damp cloth can also help filter the air and capture pollen, which is particularly useful for hayfever sufferers at this time of year.
And a sealed ice pack works even better if you have one in your freezer.
Ellie wrote: “This is a great trick as long as you have time to prepare the ice or cloth before the trip.
“Holding an ice pack in front of the air vents and raising them will make the air much colder.”
However, as you can imagine, this moistens the air as it passes through the cloth which, if not taken care of, can cause humidity in the cabin.
Just be sure to remove the cloth when exiting the vehicle and wait a few minutes with the windows open to air out when you arrive at your destination.
Another expert revealed a three-step “pre-cooling” hack you can use to make your car cooler for free.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
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