Climate Control Too Damned Fiddly

[Taliska]

Hummm...

 

That Climate Control thingy is far too fiddly - nearly went splat into the back of a Merc while trying to change it to demist the front windscreen. :huh:

 

I'm sure that a few well designed control knobs would suffice - you could always twiddle them without having to look at it for too long.

 

Curious how the fiddly-buttoned climate control compares with the fisher-price radio buttons! VW vs Ford? :)

 

Hopefully I might have subconsciously learnt not to look for too long at the CC controls now!

 

Taliska

[Ivor_E_Tower]

I hardly ever touch mine - leave it on auto all the time except when getting into it after work if it's frosted over when I just press demist before driving off. A few minutes later, just one press to Auto and it's fine. Much easier than "normal" system with fiddly buttons or dials to keep adjusting.

[Dally]

Agree with Ivor.

 

I always leave it on auto. Only ever had to use demist on a couple of occasions in the last six months or so. I think it works really well left alone on auto - 22 or 23 degrees.

[seatkid]

I agree with Taliska, the design is fiddly and dangerous to operate while driving.

 

I also have several complaints about the climate control (apart from the a/c packing in again and again! :lol: :lol: )

 

The fan speed control is useless, if it decides to blow hard you end up with two settings on or off.

 

Can't set the rear cooler than the front :P

 

Can't have cool air to vents and warm air to feet. :(

 

Can't regulate the volume to top/vent/floor individually. :(

 

Sun load sensor doesnt seem to do its job very well. :(

 

Also in spring and autumn, when the outside temp is middling. My c/c seems to develop an annoying habit of ramping up to full fan speed and staying there for at least 15 minutes, :rolleyes: :P no way to reset this except turn off ignition. Dealer couldnt find a problem (isn't that surprising?) :lol:

[CasaPaulo]

I don't wish to seem too smug, especially if mine is to go wrong in the future which is a foregone conclusion seemlingly, but my CC is almost perfect, it's a true set & forget system , I've never a need to tinker with the 22c setting or any settings EVER, it's Auto always, extremely comfortable. If I've many people aboard and they or it's damp and persisting with rain I press the heated front screen to assist, that's it! I think the CC is wondrous. Everytime I use a 'humble' car like the new poverty model Sharan hired recently, I'm utterly miffed in forever twiddling knobs. I'm a real fan of my CC. What's more it's regularly proved it's worth in extremes of zero ish to summertimes 35C or higher ambient temps. My next car WILL have CC before all else, with engine, body gearbox as secondary considerations. Maybe I'm lucky?

[Guest Shazza]

I love my CC. I always leave it on Auto, unless it's a nice warm (but not too hot) day and I want the windows and sunroof open. Then I flip it to Econ but that can't be classed as fiddly, when the Auto button is on one side of the panel and the Econ is the other.

 

I had air conditioning in my previous car, and although that was better than sweltering in the heat, it sometimes made the car too cold and I had to keep turning it off and on again.

 

One thing that bugs me though, is that you can't seem to set the blowers in the back to a lower temperature than those in the front. I have my dogs in the back and they don't like to be as warm as I do in the front. It works the other way round, I can be cooler than them.

 

Shazza

[Ivor_E_Tower]

I think that the "proper" dual aircon will allow you to set the front and rear temperatures truly independently, but the standard system suffers from the "feature" that you describe.

[Dally]

I can set lower temperatures in the back by about 3 degrees less than the front but that is, as Ivor says, because I have dual aircon.

 

The dual aircon has a separate evaporator core at the back fed by refridgerent thus enabling a temperature gradient between front and back. This is not possible with non dual aircon vehicles as there is no means to cool the air at the back.

[Taliska]

Well, I've thought about it and maybe I'm going to try the tactic of not fiddling with the CC controls.

 

I think the practice of turning everything full on in the morning to get warmed up and screen cleared, a method much used on the previous car with no AC/CC, is quite deeply ingrained and maybe conflicting with a system that might work all by itself, albeit with little hints.

 

There are times when whacking up the fan speed is really essential - like in the morning after a curry the night before - and I think the user interface design really doesn't help!

 

Taliska

[Guest V6 Owner (George)]

I also just use the automatic climate control, set it for about 18c and set on auto, car is lovely. George

[Guest V6 Owner (George)]

I also just use the automatic climate control, set it for about 18c and set on auto, car is lovely. George

[Guest asylumhouse]

watch out though if you are in the red on your fuel gauge as when on auto and using air con it uses more fuel, to gain those few extra miles to the garage switch to econ!! ( please correct if i am wrong, i usually am <_< )

[sad_git]

I thought the same about the econ button. I recently had a fault that meant the econ setting wasn't working (air-con on all time) but having fixed it I've seen little or no improvement in mpg.

[ALARM MAN]

watch out though if you are in the red on your fuel gauge as when on auto and using air con it uses more fuel, to gain those few extra miles to the garage switch to econ!! ( please correct if i am wrong, i usually am <_< )

AHA

 

V6 i saw in you spec

me 19tdi very very little difference with or without aircon just cool air and loads to the gallon :huh: :D :D :huh: :D :D :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Dally]

Hardly makes any noticeable difference to mpg on mine - leave it on auto and relax!!

[johnb80]

A lot more fuel can be saved by not using the brakes! Sounds daft I know but it's amazing the difference if you drive around as if the brakes had failed, time roundabouts so that you don't have to stop, similar with traffic lights etc etc. When wifey drives my Gal, I get at least 10mpg more out of it than she does and our average speed is higher.

 

Leave the aircon on, just learn to skip braking!

 

Caio - JB

[Bigjeeze]

I have tried on various occasions to see if the CC makes any difference to MPG. It doesn't.

 

I can get average 48mpg on a good run (100+) at steady 70 using the Crusie control, with or without the CC on. I don't think it makes that much difference if the temp inside is steady only if it needs to work harder perhaps.

I once (when I was really bored) drove 165 miles @ an average speed of 55mph and got 61 mpg.

 

Still I not often that bored!!

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Leave the aircon on, just learn to skip braking!

It does wear the tyres out faster though (higher cornering forces) but you should then get 60,000 miles or more from a set of brake pads (been there, done that).

[Guest j_mchattie]

And with the advent of injectors, engine braking uses the same amount of fuel as the idle.

 

Dont do too much engine breaking if you have a carb mind you - that gets expensive.

 

It is true that planning your drive saves large amounts of fuel. You will use the same amount of fuel during the 1st-gear stage of a pull-away as you will for the next 1/3rd of a mile at 70mph.

 

And REALLY harsh pull-aways lose you about a mile on the motorway at 70.

[seatkid]

I have tried on various occasions to see if the CC makes any difference to MPG. It doesn't.

It does. On a heavy galaxy it is only 1% - 3%, depending on speed and how hard its working. On my skoda fabia it can be as much as 10% when driving with a light foot and max cooling!

 

And with the advent of injectors, engine braking uses the same amount of fuel as the idle.

Not true, on the overrun, the ecu cuts the fuelling to zero.

 

Braking = energy lost as heat, so not braking saves fuel.

 

It is sometimes more fuel efficient to cruise with the clutch in, you travel further than you would with engine braking slowing you, when you then need to apply power to maintain speed or go that bit at the end.

 

 

Over the last 3000 miles I average aboout 52 mpg but I'm not in a hurry.....

[greg_68]

Crikey the class has now moved onto automobile fuel efficiency. :huh:

 

Seatkid do you by any chance have a large kipper tie and a brown cardigan, I am sure this sort off stuff used to be on BBC2 in the very early mornings. ;)

 

Now all you get on late night telly is soft porn instead. :huh:

 

If you could kindly let me know the roster for next weeks classes I will do some swatting up at the weekend but still do my homework on the bus on Monday morning.

 

On a more serious note if anyone would like to enlighten me on the major components of a vehicle aircon system and what each bit does I would be most grateful as I haven't got much of a clue how aircon actually works.

 

There! some homework for you.

 

Please no copying or cheating.

[seatkid]

Seatkid do you by any chance have a large kipper tie and a brown cardigan, I am sure this sort off stuff used to be on BBC2 in the very early mornings. :huh: 

:huh:

 

On a more serious note if anyone would like to enlighten me on the major components of a vehicle aircon system and what each bit does I would be most grateful as I haven't got much of a clue how aircon actually works.

Off the top of my head.....

 

The compressor is a high pressure pump designed to pump refrigerant gas around the system. It uses reciprocating pistons to pump the refrigerant into the condensor. The condensor is the big radiator at the front of the car. It is mounted in front of the water radiator. Because there is a restrictor valve after the condensor, the gas get compressed in the condensor, to the point at which it liquifies. Because of the change of state from a gas to a liquid, the refrigerant gives out heat (latent heat of condensation), and its the job of the hot condensor radiator to cool this refrigerant liquid to as near ambient as possible.

 

So the liquid refrigerant, now squeezes along through the restrictor valve (which is mounted on the evaporator) into the evaporator. The evaporator is a small radiator mounted in the dash, and all air coming through the ventilation system passes through this radiator. Because the evaporator is on the other side of the restrictor valve and on the suction side of the compressor, the pressure is very low inside the evaporator. With a combination of low pressure and ambient temperature of air going over the evaporator, the refrigerant boils and changes back into a gas. Because of the latent heat of evaporation, it cools the evaporator, drawing energy into the liquid. Thats how you get cool air!. Finally the gas leaves the evaporator and makes its way back to the compressor via the dryer, which is simply a device filled with silica gel or something to remove any moisture in the gas (which was put there when the system was filled) as water inside an a/c system would play havoc.

 

Someone else can do the pictures....

 

Class dismiss.....

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Stop it - you're just showing off !

[Guest andypenn]

Hi All

Just thought I would add to this, I stripped the CC panel apart because all the buttons where sticky from the previous owners spilt coffee inside I found a small fan that draws air accross a temp sensor that was completly covered in dust, after washing all the buttons and cleaning the fan/temp sensor my CC is much quicker in responding to temp changes just something else to add to the TO DO list :huh:

 

Cheers All.

[Guest asylumhouse]

i thought the air con, used through the compressor, was engine powered ( via belt) and when it was switched on the engine rev speed increased to compensate the extra demand.

 

 

i know i said please correct me if i am wrong but please leave a little bit of my ass and chew on the rest :huh: :huh: :o :o