opinions on running aircon in winter

[helen&tony]

Hi
I'm afraid my useage of the aircon in winter is likely to be minimal....I appreciate it needs running regularly to keep the seals intact, but is there a definitive length of time it has to be run, and how often?.
My thoughts are once a week for 20 minutes...even on heat setting..or could I do 1/2 hour twice weekly?.....I may just run to the village shops when the roads are bad, and get a taxi to town...too many ice warriors out for motoring fun...I don't want a mashed Bongo.....I'd walk to the shops on other days, but just an occasional aircon. trip
I'd be grateful for some opinions
Cheers
Helen

[mikexgough]

Hi
I'm afraid my useage of the aircon in winter is likely to be minimal....I appreciate it needs running regularly to keep the seals intact, but is there a definitive length of time it has to be run, and how often?.
My thoughts are once a week for 20 minutes...even on heat setting..or could I do 1/2 hour twice weekly?.....I may just run to the village shops when the roads are bad, and get a taxi to town...too many ice warriors out for motoring fun...I don't want a mashed Bongo.....I'd walk to the shops on other days, but just an occasional aircon. trip
I'd be grateful for some opinions
Cheers
Helen

Here in the Angles, we don't get too much of the White stuff but we do get a share of the wet stuff. This makes Winter/spring Aircon running easy as it not only keeps the seals "happy" but also the windows defogged too.....
I guess the 20 mins weekly is there and abouts okay but for here it could be running for longer periods than that....as for heat.... mine tends to be midway (manual controls) one "notch" into the red markings during the Winter, sometimes 2 notches....if it gets colder

[helen&tony]

Hi Mike
Ta...when it gets minus 10 and below, I find 2/3 into the red is OK (manual a/c)....much below minus 10, and the winter diesel here is pretty poor...wind chill across the delivery pipes from the tank waxes the flow nicely! , so I don't go far. When it goes to minus 20 and below....feet up and watch old DVDs
Cheers
Helen

[francophile1947]

Hi Helen
The aircon only needs running for a few minutes each week to protect the seals - 5-10 minutes should be plenty, it's only to keep the lubricant circulated.
As Mike says, defogging is more of a problem here - I reckon my aircon is needed more in the winter than summer

[BongoMTBer]

My old Merc manual said once a month, for what I recall only to be a few minutes. If it was too cold it wouldn't run at all though.

[francophile1947]

If it was too cold it wouldn't run at all though.

How peculiar It won't work when you most need it Perhaps Mercedes, like lots of people, also thought that it was only needed to cool things down
A few minutes a month is probably just about enough but, if you're in it anyway, it pays to use it more

[wormey]

Defo helps getting rid of the fogging up in the vehicle, I tend to keep on on quite a bit during the winter on a toasty setting.

[mikexgough]

My old Merc manual said once a month, for what I recall only to be a few minutes. If it was too cold it wouldn't run at all though.

The Bongo aircon doesn't run at below zero temps... +1C and they usually run....if the aircon is fully gassed

[helen&tony]

Hi Folks....
Thanks...I shall just use the Bongo round the village, if it runs at all...For a short period each year, you just can't use a diesel....and unless the tractors have been out, you can't drive to the main road...but , in fairness, it's only a couple of weeks when you can't move, when the temps usually sink to around minus 25 C....minus 10, you might get the Bongo running on the drive for a while, but it usually drops at night, as the skies are cloudless most of the time, and it takes 'till 2.00 PM to start the Bongo for long enough to run the aircon....so a weekly run sounds good at 10- 20 mins on the drive....I'll watch/ listen the compressor to see what it does
Cheers
Helen

[BongoMTBer]

If it was too cold it wouldn't run at all though.

How peculiar It won't work when you most need it Perhaps Mercedes, like lots of people, also thought that it was only needed to cool things down
A few minutes a month is probably just about enough but, if you're in it anyway, it pays to use it more

TBH, it didn't fog anything like as badly as the Bongo and it cleared very quickly with just warm air.

The Bongo has a massive design fault here. Due to where the cabin intake is located (above the rad), on a wet day if the vehicle is stationary or moving slowly, when the radiator warms up any moisture on the radiator will evaporate, rise and be sucked into the heater system. If you have th aircon on, then obviously this dries the air entering but otherwise, in comes warm moist air.

I know a lot of people drive with ac on all the time, so don't get the issue. I am always trying to save fuel so only switch mine on in hot weather, or when I amabout to come to a standstill on a wet day

[Diplomat]

I am always trying to save fuel so only switch mine on in hot weather...

I am always trying to save fuel and only switch mine on when I'm going downhill in hot weather!

And that's when I even remember that I've got A/C. It only gets switched on once in a while to stop it going wrong, if you see what I mean.

As for misting up, I've never had eight people in it all breathing at the same time. With only one or two occupants and no wet dogs it's never been a problem. My little Micra, two up, from cold, on a wet day, is another story entirely!

Frank

[mikexgough]

My old Merc manual said once a month, for what I recall only to be a few minutes. If it was too cold it wouldn't run at all though.

The Bongo aircon doesn't run at below zero temps... +1C and they usually run....if the aircon is fully gassed

mine did run at -1 today.... which kind of slaps me in the face......

[helen&tony]

Hi Mike
It may work on heat if the heater controls are pulled over to deliver hot air. The gas used in the Bongo can work in domestic air con units down to minus 20C, but in a car, it works slightly different, however, on a domestic air con , you must work the system all the time when it gets a few degrees below freezing, or the unit stops working...we keep ours set at 18C in the winter to stop this happening, and just turn up the heat when we are in that part of the house. I suspect that if a car is parked up for an extended period ( say overnight), then the system will freeze and not work
Cheers
Helen

[BongoMTBer]

Mine ran briefly today despite -5, bit I am sure it was due to me parking up for 10 mins after a long run. The airman system would have been warmed up by engine heat. It soon turned off again once I got moving.

[helen&tony]

Hi
That's interesting! it's right what you say...the heat would have accumulated, and given a high enough effective temperature for the system to work while stationary. The domestic system differs , as part of the system is inside the house, but if the inside portion drops below plus 15C, then the whole lot freezes, so you have to keep the room temperature indoors above that. All of the Bongos system is outside, effectively, so it will freeze the gas. This makes me wonder how can you run the system in cold weather to keep the seals lubed...in northern Japan, winter temperatures are only around 5+ degrees warmer than over here, on average, so for quite a while, the aircon won't work????
Cheers
Helen