I have an 07 Octavia Elegance with dual zone climatic control. According to the manual the aircon will only work if the temperature is above 2C which it hasn't been for ages. I would much prefer to be able to select aircon on regardless of temperature as it really helps in de-misting the inside of the car in cold weather. Recently I was on a long drive in heavy rain and temp less than 2C and the car misted up with just me inside. The pollen filter is less than a year old.

Anyway, is it possible to reprogram something in the cars logic to override the 2C aircon cut off?

Edited 22 January, 201313 yr by Skippymon

I have mine set to auto & the temp at 22 & if my screens steams up i just press the front screen de-mist button & it clears quickly,i use this when its frozen on the outside to,im not sure about the overide idea i guess its there to protect the a/c system in freezing weather.

Anyway, is it possible to reprogram something in the cars logic to override the 2C aircon cut off?

I don't think so, as the evaporator (the cold bit) in an air conditioning system has to be maintained at a temperature just above 0C.

If you could set it to maintain a lower temperature, the evaporator would soon clog up completely with ice from condensation freezing.

I have an 07 Octavia Elegance with dual zone climatic control. According to the manual the aircon will only work if the temperature is above 2C which it hasn't been for ages. I would much prefer to be able to select aircon on regardless of temperature as it really helps in de-misting the inside of the car in cold weather. Recently I was on a long drive in heavy rain and temp less than 2C and the car misted up with just me inside. The pollen filter is less than a year old.

Anyway, is it possible to reprogram something in the cars logic to override the 2C aircon cut off?

No point doing that. The aircon dries the air by dropping its temperature below the dew point so moisture condenses out. If the air is at 2C then it can't get it much colder and if it could, any condensation will freeze and clog up the matrix.

Important point is that it is not the outside temperature but the air intake temperature that contols the aircon. I am not 100% sure but I think that if you put it on recirc then the aircon will start to work again as soon as the interior temperature (and hence the recirculating air) gets above 2C..

I must admit that I find the logic about this quite strange. I cannot think of any previous car that I have had that switches off the air-con below a certain temperature. I'm a big believer in using air-con (or climate) all year round - in fact during wet or wintry weather it pays dividends by drying the air and preventing the windows steaming up - and yet last week as I was driving along the road with my parents in it all the windows suddenly steamed up (ambient temp dropped) and I had to pull over as, despite turning the windscreen demist on full, I could not see out of any of the windows.

It is a very poor, almost dangerous design in my opinion.

It is protect the components of the A/C.

If it was allowed to run past 2c it would freeze up and either just block completely or could actually cause damage with the ice forming.

I'm pretty sure all cars with A/C will have a temperature sensor that will shut it off past a certain point.

Phil

I've never noticed it on any of my previous cars though. Maybe it's not helped by the Octavia being such a naturally moist/steamy car anyway.