The reason your air conditioner gets hot when you stop is that it’s actually using the energy of the engine to cool the air, so when you turn off the car and stop producing that energy, it has nowhere else to go.
You can help prevent this by turning off your car’s AC before you park or idle for long periods of time. If you need to leave your car running for more than five minutes, shut off your AC and turn on the engine fan instead. This will keep cooling your car without using up gas.
What causes the problem?
The problem of your air conditioner getting hot when you stop is a common one. It can be caused by many different things, and it’s important to identify the cause of your problem so you can fix it.
The first thing to check is whether the problem is with your air conditioner or with your home’s electrical system. If you have an older home, it may not have enough electrical power to support both the air conditioner and other appliances like lights or other electronics.
If this is the case, you’ll need to upgrade your home’s electrical system before installing an air conditioner. If it turns out that there isn’t enough power for both your air conditioner and other appliances, you’ll need to upgrade your home’s electrical system before installing an air conditioner.
This may mean replacing an old fuse box with one that can handle more wattage and upgrading wiring within walls to be able to handle more power loads from appliances like air conditioners without causing circuit breakers to trip repeatedly.
If it turns out that there isn’t enough power for both your air conditioner and other appliances, you’ll need to upgrade your home’s electrical system before installing an air conditioner. This may mean replacing an old fuse.
What happens inside your AC when you stop?
When you stop, your car’s AC system has to work extra hard to cool down the inside of the car. This is because there’s no wind outside to help move air around and cool things down as it would in a moving car.
To make matters worse, your car’s AC system works by compressing gas and pushing it through the evaporator core, which is basically a big metal box full of cold coils. The freon turns into gas when it’s compressed and then turns back into a liquid when it reaches the cold coils.
The heat from the hot engine makes this all happen pretty quickly so quickly, actually, that you can hear your AC compressor working when you start up again after turning off your engine.
Why does stopping your car make your AC hot?
The AC shuts off as well. This is because it’s not possible for a car to run while stopped; there are no wheels to turn, so the engine can’t keep going. The air from the AC vents will quickly become hot in this situation because the AC isn’t blowing cool air anymore.
If you’re parked in a shady spot and have the windows up, or if it’s nighttime and your windows are closed, then it’s possible that your AC will continue to blow cool air even when you’ve stopped to prevent this from happening in the future.
How to fix this problem?
The first thing you should check is the temperature setting on your thermostat. If it’s set to a higher temperature than what is comfortable, then your AC will be working harder than it needs to and may get hot.
If that doesn’t work, you might need to replace your air filter. This is especially important if you have pets or kids in the house their hair and dander can clog up the filter and make it hard for air to flow through easily, which means it will take longer for your system to cool down when you need it most.
If neither of those fixes does the trick, then it might be time for some more serious maintenance work on your system’s components like replacing worn-out parts or having them professionally cleaned by an HVAC technician with experience repairing these kinds of issues.
Conclusion
The air conditioner gets hot when it is turned off because it is not being used. When you turn your ac on, the compressor will be running and this will cool down the surrounding area. When you turn your ac off, the compressor stops working and there is no longer any cooling effect.
Now that you know why your ac gets hot when you stop, hopefully, this will help prevent any unnecessary repairs to your air conditioning unit.
