적절한 상황(또는 경우에 따라 잘못된 상황)에서는 최고급 자동차도 숨막힐 정도로 더운 실내의 비참함을 피할 수 없습니다.
바깥이 무더울 때 몇 시간 동안 햇볕에 직접 주차된 차량에 들어가는 것은 결코 즐거운 경험이 아닙니다.
많은 작은 위험으로 가득 찬 무더운 자동차 내부로 인사를 받고 싶은 사람은 누구입니까? 뜨거운 안전벨트 버클, 지글거리는 가죽 시트, 대시보드, 스티어링 휠, 기어 변속 등 만지면 불편할 정도로 뜨거워지는 것들에 대해 이야기하고 있습니다.
차량 내부가 왜 그렇게 뜨거워지는지, 이번 여름에 주차된 차량을 시원하게 유지하기 위해 무엇을 할 수 있는지 알아보려면 계속 읽어보세요.
그렇다면 태양 아래 주차된 차량 내부가 덥고 화창한 날 야외에서 느끼는 것보다 훨씬 더 따뜻하게 느껴지는 이유는 무엇인가요?
"온실 효과"를 탓할 수 있습니다.
지구의 대기가 열을 가두어 지구가 생명을 유지할 수 있게 하는 방식과 관련하여 온실 효과에 대해 들어 보셨을 것입니다.
온실 효과는 자동차나 트럭이 더운 날 오븐처럼 느껴지는 이유이기도 합니다. 태양열은 창문을 통해 차량으로 들어가 내부에 갇혀 온도를 높입니다.
차를 햇볕에 주차한 후 처음 15-30분 동안 온도 상승이 가장 높습니다. 좌석, 카펫, 대시보드와 같은 자동차 내부의 물체도 이러한 열을 흡수합니다.
스탠포드 대학의 연구에 따르면 72°F ~ 96°F(22°C ~ 35°C) 범위의 화창한 날 차량 내부 온도는 평균 40°F(8°C) 더 높았습니다. 실외에서보다 테스트했습니다.
뜨거운 차는 불편할 뿐만 아니라 안전하지도 않습니다.
부주의한 부모가 때때로 자녀를 뜨거운 차에 혼자 남겨두고 때로는 치명적인 결과를 초래하는 것은 불행한 현실입니다. 뜨거운 차량에 반려동물을 방치하는 것은 너무 자주 듣는 또 다른 문제입니다.
HeatKills.org는 어린이와 애완동물을 뜨거운 차량에 방치하는 위험에 대한 인식을 높이는 데 전념하는 조직입니다. 아래의 그래픽은 차량 내부가 얼마나 빨리 가열될 수 있는지 보여줍니다.
외부가 매우 더울 때에도 주차된 차를 시원하게(또는 최소한 더 시원하게) 유지하기 위한 몇 가지 간단한 요령을 따르는 것은 어렵지 않습니다.
참을 수 없을 정도로 덥고 하늘에 구름 한 점 없는 날, 그늘에서 더위를 식히고 주차하면 훨씬 더 편안하게 차를 탈 수 있습니다.
이상적으로는 주차장을 찾고 싶을 것입니다. 이것이 옵션이 아닌 경우 주차장 가장자리의 나무 아래나 건물 그늘에 주차하면 차를 더 시원하게 유지하고 추가로 걸을 가치가 있습니다.
인근 지역이 가장 안전하지 않은 경우, 특히 어두워진 후에 차로 돌아가는 경우에는 주차장의 한적한 곳에 주차하는 것이 바람직하지 않을 수 있습니다.
또한 주차 장소, 하루 중 시간 및 차로 돌아올 시간을 고려하십시오. 오전 11시에 그늘에 주차한다고 해서 오후 3시에도 그늘에 주차되는 것은 아닙니다.
주차된 차를 시원하게 유지하는 방법으로 가정용 차고를 사용하도록 팁을 주면 "고마워요, 캡틴 오비어스"라고 생각할 수 있습니다.
하지만 항상 차고에 주차할 수 있습니까? 얼마나 많은 친구와 이웃이 진입로에 풀타임으로 주차하는지 알고 계셨나요?
차고의 주요 목적은 주차이지만 많은 주택 소유자는 해당 기능을 위해 차고를 사용하지 않습니다(또는 사용할 수 없습니다). 다음 통계를 고려하십시오.
집에 있을 때 주차된 차를 시원하게 유지하는 가장 좋은 방법으로 차고 주차를 능가하는 것은 없습니다. Even if you come home and plan to go out in an hour or two, parking in the garage is smarter that staying parked in the sun in your driveway.
Aside from staying cooler, there are plenty of other big benefits to making space in your garage for parking.
The risk of vehicle theft or burglary is significantly reduced and your vehicles will be protected from the exterior elements that can shorten their life. Parking closer to your home’s entrance (via the interior garage access door) is also more convenient.
Simply parking in your home garage is an obvious solution for keeping your car cool, but something many homeowners are unable to do.
Despite the fact that they do help keep a car’s temperature down by blocking the primary entry point for the sun, some drivers simply hate the look of those windshield sun shades. The hassle of using them is a turn-off for some people as well.
Most sun shades you see in parked cars flatten out with an accordion-style design and admittedly look rather unattractive. Their foil-like, reflective covering doesn’t exactly help them call less attention to themselves, either.
It’s completely understandable that you might not want your luxury vehicle’s sharp looks being spoiled by a cheaper-looking sun shade (or something like this laughably tacky Golden Girls sun shade).
There are more expensive, but much nicer-looking windshield sun shades out there that can help to keep your parked car cool. Some companies even offer hundreds of custom models that allow for a perfect fit and vehicle color match.
Higher quality sun windshield shade models also tout better heat-absorbing materials. This makes them more effective at reducing the entrance of thermal and ultraviolet rays into a car’s cabin.
If a windshield sun shade is a total non-starter for you as a car cooling option, covering up the parts of your vehicle’s interior that get the hottest is another way to go.
There are plenty of models of car dashboard covers to choose from. Like the windshield sun shades, shop around for a higher quality product that provides a good fit and effectively complements your car’s interior décor.
Your steering wheel and leather seats (especially darker colored seats) are the other interior parts you’ll want to cover up to prevent them from baking in the sun. If you’re wearing shorts or a dress, your bare legs will thank you.
If you have dark leather seats, it might even be worth using lighter colored fabric seat covers during the hottest months of the year.
For a less elegant method of covering your parked car’s interior parts, even using a blanket or two will help (make sure to use a lighter colored blanket).
In most cases, window tints are effective at helping to keep a parked car cool.
Better quality tints are designed to allow for a good amount of light to pass through the tinted window, while blocking out the sun’s thermal rays. The latter is sometimes referred to as the “high heat rejection rate” of the tint.
Good window tints also cut down on the sun’s harmful UV rays.
Now here’s where car window tints can get very tricky – there are widely varying laws in the U.S. and Canada for how they can be used.
Some states and provinces don’t allow any tint to be on a windshield, such as Illinois and Alberta. Other have a requirement that tints allow a minimum of 70% of the sun’s light through the windows.
It gets even more complicated if you’re driving outside of your state or province. What’s legal with your window tint where you live may very well get you a ticket when you’re away travelling.
The American Automobile Association has a handy resource that provides a state-by-state and province-by-province breakdown of vehicle tinting regulations.
A lot of drivers still swear by the old practice of leaving a car’s side windows or sunroof open a crack to keep their vehicle’s interior temperature down.
This does let the built-up heat escape and helps to facilitate some airflow through the car’s cabin, but only a fairly modest amount.
You have to ask yourself, however – is the meager reward of a car interior that’s just a few degrees cooler worth the risk of leaving your car more vulnerable to theft or vandalism?
If you leave your car windows or sunroof open even just an inch, a skillful car thief could potentially get inside the vehicle. ABC News reports that for one thief “a car with a window cracked opened was an unlocked car”.
If you’re willing to risk cracking your windows, once again be conscious of your surrounding area. Park in visible areas close to other vehicles, ideally where there’s a decent amount of vehicle and foot traffic. Parking in view of a surveillance camera also doesn’t hurt.
And let’s not forget the other hazard of leaving your windows slightly open – the risk of a sudden rainstorm making a mess of your car’s interior.
The last of our car cooling tips is to try a solar-powered ventilation fan, which you may not be familiar with.
The fan attaches to the outside top of one of your rolled-up window and has an outward facing solar panel that powers it. The fan blows out the hot air from inside the car, while pulling in the relatively cooler air outside the car.
Using two fans set up on the two side front or rear windows should increase the cross-ventilation airflow and decrease the temperature even more.
Higher-powered, more effective models can be purchased that have a larger solar panel that sits on your dashboard and powers the fans.
The quality and reliability of this product seems to vary widely. Some online reviews dismiss cheaper models as too gimmicky and not very effective. Consumers who left reviews for other fan models praise them as ingenious and highly effective.
Using one of these car cooling methods or, even better, a combination of them will keep a parked car cooler.
But if they’re still not cooling to your satisfaction, there are a couple of other ways to get the heat out of a parked car faster.
If you don’t mind getting some strange looks from passersby, one simple method involves fanning your car door to push out the heat.
Just fully roll down the passenger side window and fan the driver side door about 6-8 times. It might sound primitive, but it’s simple physics and it works!
Follow these simple tips and you’ll be able to keep your parked car cooler and more comfortable to drive.
We can help you to transform your garage into a much more attractive area of your home that makes better use of your space for storage. That means you can use it for keeping your vehicles cooler and safer.
Schedule a free design consultation with Garage Living to start getting a lot more out of your garage space.
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