Climate control rant
Discussion
Now I know some systems are crap (the Evo has a 15 minute cycle of slightly too warm then slightly too cold), but is it really that difficult? Hardly anyone I know sets their car's temperature and leaves it on Auto to do it's job, they usually keep fiddling with it turning it up and down and on and off.
Some people are worse though.... I was in a booked minicab a little while ago back from London, and the African chap driving, despite clearly being well educated and a competent and observant driver, just did not f
king get it for some reason.
When we got into the back of his fairly new Volvo, it was absolutely roasting on full heat. Fine I thought, he's kindly warmed it up for customers who've just come out of the cold, but after about 5 minutes, at the point I was starting to sweat and politeness was about to run out, he turned the fan down to about half speed and opened the front windows a crack.
At this point, the rate of temperature increase reduced significantly, although not completely, and the rush of cool air just about prevented me from passing out, however it still wasn't particularly comfortable.
Again after another 5 minutes when my jacket and jumper were off and my patience was starting to run out, he closed all of the windows, and cranked down the climate control to full cold, and turn the fan back up to maximum. At this point the girlfriend has spotted the oncoming signs of a not uncharacteristic opinionated outburst and I've received the standard issue elbow to the ribs.
Another 5 minutes pass and the beads of sweat that had previously formed were beginning to form icicles on my chin, and I was starting to feel the symptoms of onsetting hypothermia. The jacket was back on, two bruises now in my ribcage, and I was about to open my trap again when.... Windows go up, and he cranks the heat back up to full blast.
Another 5 minutes ensue and, you've guessed it, the windows open a crack and the bizarre cycle is established. We got as far as Croydon, having endured 3 repeats of the cycle, before I feared I would either have a heart attack or my bones would become brittle from thermal shock.
The right hand side of my body now completely contused from repeated blows, I couldn't hold it in any longer... As politely as possible I said
"Excuse me, do you realise that if you put the dials about half way between the extremes you're using and set it to Auto, you wont have to bugger around with it every 5 minutes and it'll stay at a half reasonable temperature, then you can adjust it with a nudge up and down"
While the girlfriend forms a position closely resembling Captain Picard in that heavily overused picture, the bloke jokily huffs something about knowing how to use his own car properly, then achieves a compromise solution of turning the heat to half way and leaving it on full blast with the windows open.
I still gave him a tip as he was a decent driver and a seemingly decent chap, but do people really not get it?
Has anyone else noticed this, or do I just associate with stupid people?
Some people are worse though.... I was in a booked minicab a little while ago back from London, and the African chap driving, despite clearly being well educated and a competent and observant driver, just did not f
king get it for some reason.When we got into the back of his fairly new Volvo, it was absolutely roasting on full heat. Fine I thought, he's kindly warmed it up for customers who've just come out of the cold, but after about 5 minutes, at the point I was starting to sweat and politeness was about to run out, he turned the fan down to about half speed and opened the front windows a crack.
At this point, the rate of temperature increase reduced significantly, although not completely, and the rush of cool air just about prevented me from passing out, however it still wasn't particularly comfortable.
Again after another 5 minutes when my jacket and jumper were off and my patience was starting to run out, he closed all of the windows, and cranked down the climate control to full cold, and turn the fan back up to maximum. At this point the girlfriend has spotted the oncoming signs of a not uncharacteristic opinionated outburst and I've received the standard issue elbow to the ribs.
Another 5 minutes pass and the beads of sweat that had previously formed were beginning to form icicles on my chin, and I was starting to feel the symptoms of onsetting hypothermia. The jacket was back on, two bruises now in my ribcage, and I was about to open my trap again when.... Windows go up, and he cranks the heat back up to full blast.
Another 5 minutes ensue and, you've guessed it, the windows open a crack and the bizarre cycle is established. We got as far as Croydon, having endured 3 repeats of the cycle, before I feared I would either have a heart attack or my bones would become brittle from thermal shock.
The right hand side of my body now completely contused from repeated blows, I couldn't hold it in any longer... As politely as possible I said
"Excuse me, do you realise that if you put the dials about half way between the extremes you're using and set it to Auto, you wont have to bugger around with it every 5 minutes and it'll stay at a half reasonable temperature, then you can adjust it with a nudge up and down"
While the girlfriend forms a position closely resembling Captain Picard in that heavily overused picture, the bloke jokily huffs something about knowing how to use his own car properly, then achieves a compromise solution of turning the heat to half way and leaving it on full blast with the windows open.
I still gave him a tip as he was a decent driver and a seemingly decent chap, but do people really not get it?
Has anyone else noticed this, or do I just associate with stupid people?
sy534534 said:
OMG! My dad is the worst for this. He cannot grasp the basics of climate control, heater on full blast set at 28c for twenty minutes until everyone in the car has started to cook, then someone wil pipe up about the heat and dad will set it to 12c for twenty minutes! Repeat until everyone feels sick. I've explained the system to him but he preferes to control it himself!
My Mum is exactly the same, I've explained it so many times. The Range Rover's system isn't perfect, but all you need to do is set the temperature and then tweak the face vent setting every now and again. With her it's up, down, up, down, off, full blast... etcmadrob6 said:
Torquey said:
Even without climate control, anyone who moves the fan to less than 1 deserves a shouting at.
You've not heard the squeaky fan in my 944. If set to 3 (full) it doesn't squeak but is just generally noisy, 1 and 2 squeak whilst pushing out a pitiful amount of air and off is for when it's pissing you off.Previously I would just get roasted with it stuck on full heat... opening the windows would only increase the flow of hot air from the vents.
HellDiver said:
To the OP - I know the pain of Mitsubishi climate, the Lancer I had was the same. Heat like the centre of the sun, followed by absolute zero, rince and repeat. Why can't they do an air blend like everyone else?
My one isn't quite that bad, it just subtly makes it just slightly too warm or cold, like you want to set it in between two clicks on the dial... Upshot is that you either have to click it up or down a notch every 15 minutes or so, or just ignore it for another 5-10 minutes until it gets to the point where it starts coming back againGassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff