Strange Air Con Problem

[jonial]

Has any one got any ideas as to why my 08 Altea with climate control steams up when the climate control is put into the "Econ".

As soon as I put it into "Auto" mode the condensation is quickly removed.

The condensation starts from the front of the car to the rear and even appears in the "Econ" mode when the, fan is set at high speed, and the temperature is set at High.

I have monitored the condition of the Air from the heater and the Relative Humidity does not alter.

A good problem is it not.

John

 

[robint]

Not a strange problem at all - the econ button switches the air conditioning off and aircon works essentially by de-humidifying the air (thats why modern cars all have water running out from underneath them in car pars!) and taking the moisture out of the air and preventig windows misting up. 'Auto' switches the aircon back on and o the windows rapidly demist. Heat will eventually demist windows, aircon does it a lot more efficiently.

Just set the temp to 21 or 22 deg, put in auto and leave well alone - making sure that you have all the outlets open. If screen is a bit icy then just push the heated rear screen and the front screen buttons for a few mins first but leave the temp alone.

 

[jonial]

Hi Robint

Thanks for the logical explanation.

From what you have said I can now understand why the car steams up when the outside temperture drops below app 3 degrees centigrade, as at that temperature the compressor stops working.

The strange thing is that in my previous Altea which was a MY05 with exactly the same spec this steaming up did not occur.

Apparantly the design of the compressor has been changed to be a "clutchless" one and I do wonder if the control method has been changed.

As I say this is a strange problem that I have not had in any previous car that I have owned with or without air conditioning

John

 

[CrispDust]

If its clutchless then it will always be "on" but may have some sort of bypass valve which may also bypass the condenser

 

[klawit]

Well, the facts mentioned by robint are all plausible ... but there is one thing, especially while discussing it nowadays in wintertime:

The aircon switches off for selfprotection below ~ 4°C, i.e. it prevents itself from freezing.

So no more de-humidifying at low outside temperatures.

On top of this, I assume that your car might have "collected" some additional moist being introduced by soaking wet shoes or even snow covered boots ...

greets ... Klaus

 

[jonial]

Hi Klaus

Greetings to you and thank you for your interest in my "problem"

I will carry out more tests but my view is that I may have a blocked condensate drain cuasing moisture to be retained within the heater "box" itself.

I will try to find the condensate drain and make sure it is clear

This problem really rears its ugly head when the outside temperature is below 3 degrees C. --- John

 

[jonial]

My problem has now been diagnosed as a faulty control unit !!

Apparantly after some 30 seconds of normal operation the fresh air flap closes , on its own, therefore cutting off any fresh air into the car.
The system then operates on the cabin air only - hence the steaming up.

A new control unit should arrive and be fitted tomorrow - Wednesday.

Full marks to my dealer for persevering with this complaint.

I will report back soon

John

 

[jonial]

Final Update

The car is fine now -- no more steaming up when in Econ Mode.

The recirc flap was fixed and Control unit no 3 was fitted.

Glad it was under warranty

John

 

[newbuyer17]

I know it wasn't the case with you, but I've also been caught out with the missus leaving the recirculation function on. That causes bad misting up and is worth checking for anyone having the same problem.

 

[loadswine]

Mine seems to have suffered a similar failure tonight, wretched thing! Mine isn't under warranty, so I'm going to have to fix this myself.
Air only comes out the vents when in recirc mode and as soon as anything else is selected, you can hear the flap shut and no air at all. What a pain! Quite literally, as I'll have to contort to get under the dash and my back has gone as well.

 

[loadswine]

Well a little bit of reading on here and it seems a solution is found, at least for the symptoms on my car. I read of my old mate Tell rebooting his climate control unit by removal and replacement of the 40 amp fuse, no. 56 i think. I did just this , earlier this morning and it seems to work okay now.
Thanks Tell!