When Is Air Con On !

[Guest Wanny]

Can you sombody please confirm when the Air Con is On or Off. I have a 2.3 Ghia X with Cimate control, am I right in thinking that when display shows AUTO the AC is regulating the temp and therefore ON. The confusion comes with the display showing ECON is this AC on or OFF, because if you set the temp to LO you can have either no display or ECON. No display seems to be colder ?

 

Can anyone spread any light on thsi for me :)

[seatkid]

Auto = compressor (cooler thingy) on

No display = compressor on also (what a great design)

Econ = compressor off

Flashing = time to visit your dealer again.....(bring lots of cash)

[johnb80]

In AUTO the compressor will be on ONLY if cooling is required.

[Guest Wanny]

Thanks for that guys, so no display air con ON with ECON displayed air con OFF. So logical - NOT !! :)

[rwtomkins]

johnb80, are you sure that's technically correct? according to previous threads, the aircon operates all the time at temperatures above IIRC 4 degrees celsius, even when the heater's on, in order to dehumidify

[seatkid]

In AUTO the compressor will be on ONLY if cooling is required.

I've never ever known the compressor to cycle in AUTO (though it may shut down temporarily if it gets too hot which I've never seen). AUTO is displayed only if you have three or more bars on your fan settings and then not always.

 

I thinks the genius (thats a pun) that wrote the software thinks AUTO is only displayed if he thinks the system is set such that it is capable of total cabin temperature control.

 

Also the fan settings (bars) mean dick apart from (none) = fan off and (all) = fan full on. I often have the option of only full on on two bars or bugger all up to four bars.

 

On Skodas and Mercedes the CC is a rotary temperature setting and a rotary five/six speed fan control that directly controls fan speed. Far superior - why doesn't Skoda do an MPV?

 

BTW when the a/c is kaput (which is fairly regularly) then if ECON is not displayed your engine cooling fan(s) will be on. Such is the brilliance of the design that AUTO etc. will still be displayed even though it knows it ain't working.

 

As you can guess I don't think muich of the Galaxy a/c design.

[HJT]

AUTO is displayed only if you have three or more bars on your fan settings and then not always.

 

My climate control shows AUTO with any number of fan bars showing. This time of year the fan bars are usually only on 2 and still shows AUTO.

Very confusing design. I've never been really sure when the aircon is running. During the winter I tend to run the system on LO for 15 minutes a week to keep the system turned over, then the rest of the time on AUTO at 21 degrees.

 

Howard

[Ivor_E_Tower]

"Auto" just means "on". I think it says "auto" rather than "on" because it then moves the vent flaps and adjusts the fan speeds itself - which it does on ECON too. Most confusing.

[Guest Wanny]

I m glad you experienced members are as confused as I am. I (before reading the manual) presumed that auto means the thing will try and keep the temp that you set say 21 degress, and in this mode the thing does what it wants - Heat, Cool, use the fan, not use the fan. When ECON is on the manual indicates that this is not using the Air Con, and when no display then Air con is on. But like SeatKid somedays the dame thing doesn't respond to any fan setting what ever i tell it to do.

 

Confused - I am !

 

As another thing anybody know if the vents at the back on the floor do anything, never really thought about it until i read something on the forum but it is a big car to heat just from the front vents.

 

:)

[Guest nimrod]

As another thing anybody know if the vents at the back on the floor do anything, never really thought about it until i read something on the forum but it is a big car to heat just from the front vents.

 

there is a seperate heater/blower unit stuck behind the quarter panel on my Galaxyits coptrolled by a couple of dials above the rear passenger door and a switch opn the dash, on vehicle with CC its controlled by the CC panel but I'm not sure which buttons you push to operate it, I'm just glad I have the old manually operated system where I have to twist a couple of knobs and push a button on the dash to get it all working! its a lot easier to operate :)

[Richmond]

The CC system does seem to be ill conceived and confusing. However, in practice I run it on AUTO all the time and it seems to work OK and kepp the temp where I want it. The only time I don't use AUTO is when a window is open in which case I run it on ECON, and occasionally in cold, dry weather I run it on ECON.

[johnb80]

Well I have to say so far I'm impressed with the Climate Control on my Galaxy. I have NEVER had to adjust anything, the temp being set 20 deg front 21 rear and no-one has complained too hot / too cold it just keeps the car comfortable. The display on mine shows AUTO when this mode is selected irrelevant of fan speed, the Auto switches off if manual adjustments are made to fan speed or air distribution. The ECON just disables the compressor. On mine the compressor runs breifly every startup but the only runs if demisting is selected or the air temp is high.

 

Regards - JB

[Guest Murdock]

I have the VW CC and I believe 'Auto' is the setting that maintains the tempature as a constant (as set on the display) 'Econ' is the same except that the compressor is not used and 'off' is off.

 

My rear heater only blows after about 10 minutes which is when the coolant has reached the correct tempature I.E it's not going to blow cold air when hot air was requested/needed.

 

I only ever use 'Econ' as i'm concerned about the increase in MPG when using the AC. I will use the AC when it's really hot (two days each year?!!)

[johnb80]

>>I only ever use 'Econ' as i'm concerned about the increase in MPG when using the AC. I will use the AC when it's really hot (two days each year?!!)<<

 

Well I'm glad I'm not a passenger in you car ! Climate control makes such a difference in the car, de-humidifies (more important than temp for comfort), controls the temp rtc etc. The fuel consumption aspect is negligible, would you consider driving without using heated rear window or headlights ? they also have an effect of mpg. I find the biggest influence on MPG is the brake pedal, drive round as if you don't have one and watch those numbers rise, then swicth on the aircon and enjoy.

 

Regards - JB

P.S. You could always get a TDi and don't worry about the mpg at all #8o)

[MrT]

The climate control on the later cars also has a sunlight detector behind the clock in the middle of the dashboard. This detects the amount of sun coming in through the front windscreen and increases the cooling function in strong sunlight.

[Richmond]

I only ever use 'Econ' as i'm concerned about the increase in MPG when using the AC.

I've given up even thinking about petrol consumption; it's too painful.

 

In the past, I tried to compare the fuel consumption with and without AC on (pretty unscientific ones) and I couldn't see any difference. I'm sure that there is one, but hey, 24 mpg or 23.5 mpg, who cares?