Air Con/Climate control in this really hot weather

roddydogs

Why is it so poor , I might as well just wind the windows down. Do they think that British cars don't need it to work very well. PS their's nothing wrong with it, and yes, I know all the tricks such as winding the windows down for a few minuits & not having it on full, etc, and yes its "better than nothing" if youve got the windows up.

tykesi

roddydogs wrote: »

Why is it so poor , I might as well just wind the windows down. Do they think that British cars don't need it to work very well. PS their's nothing wrong with it, and yes, I know all the tricks such as winding the windows down for a few minuits & not having it on full, etc, and yes its "better than nothing" if youve got the windows up.

Working perfectly in my two cars so I wouldn't be so sure that "their's[sic] nothing wrong with it"

spikyone

Mine works perfectly, had no problems with my previous car either (which I bought almost ten years ago) Do you use your air con/climate control all year round? If not, then the rubber seals will degrade and you'll get the gas leaking out, so it won't be as effective (Google "using air conditioning in car"). If your car is older, then the system could just need regassing - after checking for leaks, of course.

As for winding the windows down, that's the dictionary definition of pointless, as all the cooled air is going straight out. The best thing you can do is keep the windows closed and use the recirculate button, otherwise you're drawing in hot air from outside and trying to cool that, which will also make the system appear less effective. Modern climate control will manage that automatically too; mine is almost permanently recirculating air.

neilmcl

tykesi wrote: »

Working perfectly in my two cars so I wouldn't be so sure that "their's[sic] nothing wrong with it"

Me too, works perfectly, keeping the car at a nice, comfortable 20 degrees throughout the year. Maybe OP you need to get yours checked out. Can we assume you only use it during the summer months? If this is the case then it's probably where you're going wrong, one of the biggest killers of aircon systems is not using it regularly.

AdrianC

roddydogs wrote: »

Why is it so poor , I might as well just wind the windows down. Do they think that British cars don't need it to work very well.

Fix it, then. It's probably out of gas, especially if you don't use it all year round.

I very much doubt the HVAC in your car is different to in any other European-spec car of the same type, many of which will be sold into hot Southern European countries. Several of the hottest countries in the EU are RHD - Malta, Cyprus.

Ebe_Scrooge

spikyone wrote: »

Mine works perfectly, had no problems with my previous car either (which I bought almost ten years ago) Do you use your air con/climate control all year round? If not, then the rubber seals will degrade and you'll get the gas leaking out, so it won't be as effective (Google "using air conditioning in car"). If your car is older, then the system could just need regassing - after checking for leaks, of course.

As for winding the windows down, that's the dictionary definition of pointless, as all the cooled air is going straight out. The best thing you can do is keep the windows closed and use the recirculate button, otherwise you're drawing in hot air from outside and trying to cool that, which will also make the system appear less effective. Modern climate control will manage that automatically too; mine is almost permanently recirculating air.

I agree with you about the re-gassing - that's more than likely the cause of the OP's problem.


Winding the windows down - yes, obviously it's daft to have the AC on with the windows down. But I think what the OP meant - and what I do - is when you first get in the car. When it's really hot, the inside of the car will be boiling. The quickest way to cool it down is to wind the windows down and put the fan on ( no AC ) for just a minute or so. This will blast out the worst of the really hot air. Then wind up the windows and switch on the AC. So the AC now has less work to do, as the super-heated air has gone.


Not sure if I've explained that very well, or even if it's technically correct ! But it's what I always do, and seems to work well

Head_The_Ball

As above but open the windows, turn on the A/C, set fan to maximum and set the vents to floor level.

The incoming cold air at floor level will push the hot air higher up out of the open windows.

After a minute or two close the windows and set the vents to face or chest level so that the cold air cools your body down.

Manxman_in_exile

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

I agree with you about the re-gassing - that's more than likely the cause of the OP's problem.


Winding the windows down - yes, obviously it's daft to have the AC on with the windows down. But I think what the OP meant - and what I do - is when you first get in the car. When it's really hot, the inside of the car will be boiling. The quickest way to cool it down is to wind the windows down and put the fan on ( no AC ) for just a minute or so. This will blast out the worst of the really hot air. Then wind up the windows and switch on the AC. So the AC now has less work to do, as the super-heated air has gone.


Not sure if I've explained that very well, or even if it's technically correct ! But it's what I always do, and seems to work well

This is what I do. In really hot weather I also set the AC to recirculate so it doesn't have to cool down hot air from outside.


Am I right to do this?

AdrianC

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

This is what I do. In really hot weather I also set the AC to recirculate so it doesn't have to cool down hot air from outside.

Am I right to do this?

If you get the initial very hot (greenhouse) air out of the car first, yes. Recirc draws the air that's already in the car back over the evaporator/matrix.

takman

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

As above but open the windows, turn on the A/C, set fan to maximum and set the vents to floor level.

The incoming cold air at floor level will push the hot air higher up out of the open windows.

After a minute or two close the windows and set the vents to face or chest level so that the cold air cools your body down.

If you find this necessary then i think your A/C isn't working as efficiently as it should.

Even in this hot weather i can get in my car, start the engine and the climate control will get the car to a comfortable temperature easily in 1 - 2 minutes without messing about changing the fan and opening the windows.

The key to keeping A/C in a good usable condition is to use it all year round. My car has it on by default and you have to go into the climate control menu to turn it off, so it's left on all year. It's 10 years old and is as cold any new car i have driven.

daveyjp

Also depends on engine output. Smaller engines may struggle to lower temperatures by a significant amount in very hot weather.