climate control

[CUP-RACING]

sorry if this has been covered before, did a quick search and nothing came up,
why when I switch off my climate control does it still continue to pump out the temp it is set too, its annoying if its warm day and I have set it a bit high as I have to switch it on and then turn the temp down then switch it off, does this also mean when the temp low the aircon is still working even though its turned off?. Also why oh why did they not just put an off button on it rather than having turn turn the knob anticlockwise to switch it off?

 

[Leigh15]

It'll take a while for the coolant in the system to warm back up to ambient temperature,so even after being turned off the air will run cold for a while. The whole point of having climate control though as opposed to basic aircon is that you just set the temperature you're comfortable with and it maintains that temperature for you - turning the a/c on/off and adjusting fan speed, air temperature and air routing automatically to keep that temperature.

If you're constantly changing the temp turning a/c on/off yourself and shutting the system down you're completely defeating the point in the system.

I just set my climate at 19 degrees and never touched it again - the car used to adjust all the settings so that it was always 19 degrees in the car - regardless of how hot/cold it was outside. If I wanted to save fuel I'd stick it in ECON mode, but to be honest I stopped doing this because I noticed no real difference in mpg

 

[kriso]

I keep fiddling with my climate control to try and get a nice temperature. When its on Auto at about 18c it seems to blow loads and makes it really noisy. When I drop it to econ it gets too hot!

Then again I have only had the car less than a week so still trying to get a comfortable setting.

 

[Nath.]

It'll take a while for the coolant in the system to warm back up to ambient temperature,so even after being turned off the air will run cold for a while. The whole point of having climate control though as opposed to basic aircon is that you just set the temperature you're comfortable with and it maintains that temperature for you - turning the a/c on/off and adjusting fan speed, air temperature and air routing automatically to keep that temperature.

If you're constantly changing the temp turning a/c on/off yourself and shutting the system down you're completely defeating the point in the system.

I just set my climate at 19 degrees and never touched it again - the car used to adjust all the settings so that it was always 19 degrees in the car - regardless of how hot/cold it was outside. If I wanted to save fuel I'd stick it in ECON mode, but to be honest I stopped doing this because I noticed no real difference in mpg

well said,

leave it set to your desired temp and stop fiddling

 

[zippyprorider]

dont it use a load of fuel?

Andy

 

[Nath.]

^^^^^nope, maybe 1mpg difference on my fr 20vt

 

[kriso]

^^^^^nope, maybe 1mpg difference on my fr 20vt

so thats like 5% on the 1.8T then?

 

[Nath.]

DILLIGAF

I didn't buy it for MPG I bought it for the nice tickover sound

 

[zippyprorider]

lol might turn it on for the first time in 5 months then!

ps at least our fr's sound fit good and dont creat smoke screens for people following!

Andy

 

[keefy]

zippyprorider, you should use your climate control at least once a month for a while to keep the system running well. If you don't you will find it won't get as cold when you do put it on and i believe that the coolant in the system actually lubricates all the seals etc. If it doesn't get used once in a while, the chances are bits will fail prematurely.

In the winter, I made sure mine came on at least once a week for 10-20mins. Now I use it probably every other day anyway.

As others have said, I don't notice too much change in mpg whether it is on or off. But, I stick it in econ for a lot of the time anyway.

 

[Fangio]

I'd agree with the leave it at a temperature and stop fiddling solution to this..of the cars I've had over the years this little buzz bomb has about the best heating and airconditioning.
Bear in mind it is probably set up for Spain; where there are more mountains than anywhere else in Europe and a lot of the country gets colder/hotter than anywhere else.
Biggest bugbear for me (as with most cars) is that you need to take you eyes off the road to adjust the thing at all, better to set the temp and let it get on with it.
I haven't noticed much difference in fuel consumption in any case.

 

[kriso]

I'm more worried about losing performance/power with the air-con on than mpg

 

[Fangio]

I'm more worried about losing performance/power with the air-con on than mpg

You are talking if anything nano seconds of difference.
Bear in mind that the power/performance figures for any vehicle are approximate; my Tdi 130 'feels' as if there could be more horses than that in any case.
If you floor the throttle the a/c system should in any case switch off to preserve power; you really shouldn't be losing anything.
Even if you are you are talking much less loss than perhaps having a window open.