Purpose of Air Recirculation Button in Cars

Have you ever wondered about the purpose of a button, which has a curved-like inside arrow near the AC controls? Well, that feature is very useful in certain situations, as it can retain clean and temperature-controlled cabins. It also helps to defrost windows, which can be useful during monsoon and winter. 

This unpopular button or perhaps often ignored is extremely, as far as the cabin’s temperature and air quality are concerned. Learning its usage and when and where to use this feature will most likely reduce fatigue, improve health, and increase fuel efficiency.

For those unclear about this feature, the ‘Recirculation Air’, as the name implies, gives you an option - whether to recirculate the old air or get fresh inside from outside. Switching ON the button will stop allowing the outside air to enter the cabin, whereas switching OFF will allow outside air to enter the car’s cabin. 

So, let’s see when and where you can use the air recirculation button. 

Summers

As one of you might have experienced, the car’s windshield or any other glass often gets cracked when the car is parked outside on a hot day with hardly any shelter. That’s because, the hot air increases, due to which, the pressure also surges, as a result, the glass gets cracked.  

To prevent the glass from cracking in a parked car, it’s best to DISABLE the recirculation air button before getting out of the car, thereby maintaining the optimum temperature inside the cabin. 

Monsoons

In monsoons, as you know, the humidity increases, which also surges the heat, making the car passenger decrease the air conditioning’s temperature for better cooling, which subsequently condenses the windows. To avoid window condensation, you can either slightly increase the temperature of the climate control (to match the inside and outside temp.) or simply disable the air recirculation system. 

Winters

In winter, the same working principle has to be used as monsoon. When heat and cold are met, the windows start frosting. To avoid that, you can decrease the temperature of your car’s A/c but if you can’t bear the cold, you can disable the recirculation air button. 

While Smoking

While smoking in the car, many people roll down the windows and dispose of the ash with the help of the wind, but some smokers aren’t comfortable opening the windows for whatever reason, and yet they fear getting the smoke trapped.

The people from the latter category must have bought an ashtray for their cars. Besides that, they should disable the recirculation air button, so that the fresh air comes inside, which can eliminate the smokey cabin. And if you want to add an extra layer of protection, you can choose to switch off the climate control, while having the air recirculation system disabled. 

Bad Odour From Outside

In contrast, if there is a bad odour coming from outside to inside the car, ensure that all windows are closed and the air recirculation button is enabled. Following these two steps can prevent the unpleasant odour from entering the cabin. 

If Stuck in Bumper-To-Bumper Traffic

In a bumper-to-bumper traffic situation, many cars release harmful pollutants, which can enter the cars’ cabins if their air recirculation system is disabled. To avoid that, immediately enable the air recirculation button to prevent harmful chemicals from entering the cabin.

Closing Words

These are some situations where you can effectively use the air recirculation feature. There are more instances also, but the aforementioned instances are widely common, across the globe.