As summer seems to be on us again as from today, i was wondering on some tips to keep ultra cool during the heatwave (well 'til Sunday anyway)
Colleague of mine said today the way to max your air-con is to have air directed at the eye level vents only, have the two nearest the doors pointing towards the doors, the two center one blend together. Which means the right one pointing left and the left one pointing right.
The other things to do is make sure all the vents are pointing as far upright as they will go, and to have the recycle air switched on.
The blower fan should be set one level less than max.
Tried these techniques in three cars today, A Seat Alhambra didn't seem very effective whereas a Renault Modus and Seat Leon where as cool as i think i could get them.
So to conclude, any more tips for maximum cooling with air-con??
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European air-cons are always a bit feeble and never quite up to the job in my experience. You certainly shouldn't to fiddle with 'em like you suggest to get comfortable. Here we just have the air on recycle (you don't need the guy in front's exhaust anyway) and everything on max. Just use the eye level vents. On the hottest day say 40 C outside in stop-start traffic, Herself will be complaining she's too cold.
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Was a indicated 30'C today (debatable) on the Alhambra gauge and well, it really wasn't doing anything. Was still sweaty.
So not sure that it'll cut it at all at 40'C
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Not all European air-cons - the one in the Audi is a real chiller. Brilliant, and nice to need it at ;ast after a cold May.
Audi owners - you can convert Centigrade to "real" degrees Fahrenheit if you want to - I've forgotten how to now but it's in the handbook. 86 today - roll on summer.
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Audi owners - you can convert Centigrade to "real" degrees Fahrenheit if you want to -
Maybe the same as any VW with climate.. Press red and blue temp buttons together for a couple of seconds..
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Audi owners - you can convert Centigrade to "real" degrees Fahrenheit if you want to - I've forgotten how to now but it's in the handbook. 86 today - roll on summer.
Fahrenheit = Centigrade x 1.8 plus 32. (I think!)
--
L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Maybe the Europeans don't look after their aircon so much as in other territories? Mine is like a cold store, but a new Mondeo I hired was feeble, it never achieved the temperature set on the CC - maybe there was something wrong with it?
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16C = 61F, 28C = 82F - and somewhere in between should be about right for the AC, say 22C (72F).
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Interesting topic!
My old Alfa 156 I used to have had feeble aircon.
Dads C5 had the best Aircon I ever came across. Hottest day and it blew ice cold.
Wifes old Xsara pretty good aircon, Better than my Current Nissan Primera and her now current Renault Scenic.
Dads current Volvo S60 also has excellent aircon.
I have learnt it does vary from car to car.
Cheers
Jlo
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Maybe it was time they had to publish the cooling capacity BTUs or kW of the aircon, like systems made for buildings? I mean it could be useless and they would still be allowed to call it airconditiong.
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Good tip when you come back to the car and its baking hot having been out in the sun: roll all the windows down and drive for a few minute with a/c on full to blow the hot air out (old Gulf trick!)
Car will then cool down quicker.
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I didn't realise how good the climate control was in my old Peugeot 406 until I recently swopped it for a Merc C Class. The 406 was real 'set and forget' - it coped perfectly, even with the cold air directed on just the windscreen vents, so no draughts from the face level vents.
With the Merc, on the other hand, when set on Auto, directs the air to the face vents, so you *have* to have them open. It also doesn't cope very well with the sun going in and out, and seems very affected by different road speeds - slow down and you notice it's heating up well before the CC does.
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"...they would still be allowed to call it airconditiong". Most "airconditioning" is comfort-cooling - true airconditioning modifies the humidity as well as the temperature.
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I take exception to this thread :(
Up here in bonny Scotland (!), the only use for air con this weekend is demisting the inside of the windscreen as the rain is battering down on its outside!
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"...they would still be allowed to call it airconditiong". Most "airconditioning" is comfort-cooling - true airconditioning modifies the humidity as well as the temperature.
I'm not sure you're right there. As far as I know, all of what is called air-con in vehicles is run by a condensor, which does indeed modify the humidity as well, hence it being quite so effective at demisting windscreens.
Which air-con units do you know of which do not work in this manner?
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Agree with Growler. Get your hands on one of the A/C compressors they fit in cars for sale in Africa.
And the shock absorbers too now our roads resemble bush tracks.
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Not all European air-cons - the one in the Audi is a real chiller. Brilliant, and nice to need it at ;ast after a cold May. Audi owners - you can convert Centigrade to "real" degrees Fahrenheit if you want to - I've forgotten how to now but it's in the handbook. 86 today - roll on summer.
I love my Audi A4 diesel, however I would say one of its only areas of critiscism is a puny aircon system. The car is only just over a year old so I would say this is how it was meant to be.
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Blissful yesterday (Friday) in my new MKV Golf. Outside temperature was, according to the outside temperature gauge, 32 celcius (maximum) and I had the semi-automatic 'climatic' aircon system set to <18 celcius and on fan-speed 2 or was it 1 and the inside was beautifully cool. Had most of the air through the central air vents and side vents but not directed into my face or eyes as this can cause nasty facial pain (facial palsy, if not careful).
I did not bother to have it on recirculation. I think that the aircon unit on my new car is more effective compared with that on my last car, which was a Rover 414i (RIP). This may be an 'age' effect as the Rover's system was getting on a bit by the time I sold it last December. However, the Golf's compressor seems to make very little difference to fuel consumption or engine speed when first engaged by the electric cluth mechanism.
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Well I think the Americans lead the way here with 'dual A/C units' on vehicles and an interesting setting called 'Max A/C'. Now thats *the* way to stay cool.
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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Tint your windows
What!! And look like a tart? Not on your Aunt Nelly.
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Audi climate control is fine. Set it to 21 C or whatever you like and it'll stay at that temperature. No need to be chilled to the bone just because it is hot outside.
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...........No need to be chilled to the bone just because it is hot outside.>>
Quite right! Just because it is 80 degrees outside, do you really need to be more chilled than a butchers shop cold store? When you get out of a chilled car, the difference feels far worse than setting the temp to something like a balmy autumn evening. I am also sure that being too chilled might actually make you more sluggish too.
Personal choice I know, but I don't think I have ever thought it being about extremes of temperature, just about being comfortable.
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"What!! And look like a tart?"
Well, if how you appear to others is more important than your own comfort...
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The air con in my Range Rover is ice cold. Brrrrrr!
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\"Nothing less than 8 cylinders will do\"
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"What!! And look like a tart?" Well, if how you appear to others is more important than your own comfort...
Of course it is. And unless you want to see an end to high heels and g-strings it had better stay that way.
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