Was driving home from work yesterday, got close to house, about a mile or so, I thought, hey I`ll try this recurculation button on the a/c ,see what happens. Turned the a/c off, now I`m just recurculating inside air, Heck, I`m colder than when the a/c was on. Man free a/c and not burning as much gas ta-boot.
Tried it again today, almost had to turn it off, turned fan down instead. Now my little 2.2L can leave the stop lights at a more respectable rate, and less costly.

 

I tried it last week while in Maryland.....it was amazing.....colder than with the AC on.

 

how long does that last until you have to turn the ac back on to cool it off again...??

 

Here, this time of year. You won't get long.

 

I drove for the better part of a hour like that, also had the sunroof tilted open with inside shield barely open to take load off fan. When it felt like it was warming up a bit , I turned the fan up again.
It was about 85 degrees according to the dash display, and muggy outside when I got out.

 

This was cleared up on another thread by Socalhhr.....When the recirculate button is on, your a/c compressor is running, even though the a/c light is not on. Sit in the driveway with the door open and push the recir. button, you will hear the clutch lock up on the compressor and the idol drop.

 

Ahhh man, thought I was saving gas !!! Oh well , back to the drawing board...

 

That must be on the newer model cars. I know on my '96 truck and my wifes '03 Mazda, it does not turn the A/C on. Only time the compressor turns on is if you put it on def mode. (other than A/C mode of course)

 

Has nothing to do with newer cars - just the HHR!

You also can't leave "recirc" on all the time.

Each time you restart the HHR, it defaults to "fresh air" - which is a pain for some of us.

 

Gotcha. My 96 will stay on recirc, but I think the 03 goes back to fresh each time. I'll have to look. I'm only in that one on the weekends.