Air conditioning coldness

[aldouk]

Anyone else think that their Air con could be cooler and more ice cold?

 

I appreciate we are having a small hot spell currently, but I noticed that the air conditioning in other cars is colder/ice cold and quicker to cool (Nissan Qashqai / MINI)

 

Air conditioning is on normal and not ECO. 2018 Superb sportline. 

 

Mrs also said that our MK3 Octy was better than Superb but one would assume same system/parts.  

 

Just asking if anyone else notices this?...being honest. 

[Stinker]

Agreed, on very hot days it struggles. I share a carpool with a Volvo V60 driver, you could get frostbite in there!

[freelunch]

I have to deflect the air flow away from me or it gets too cold. I usually just push "Auto", set the temp to 68-70°F and the car takes care of everything else. Mind, I have turned it off for the past couple of weeks...

[juux]

19 hours ago, aldouk said:

Anyone else think that their Air con could be cooler and more ice cold?

 

I appreciate we are having a small hot spell currently, but I noticed that the air conditioning in other cars is colder/ice cold and quicker to cool (Nissan Qashqai / MINI)

 

Air conditioning is on normal and not ECO. 2018 Superb sportline. 

 

Mrs also said that our MK3 Octy was better than Superb but one would assume same system/parts.  

 

Just asking if anyone else notices this?...being honest. 

 

Mine is fine, even in these warmer temperatures. The refrigerant does take a bit longer to cool than some other cars I've had though, so jumping in and setting the fan on anything more than one or two and it'll take a long time to chill down properly. Best to let it cool fully before whacking the fan up.

[BriskodaJeff]

I wanted to give it a good test before replying. Yesterday the car was sat in full sunshine for the whole day before I drove it at c4.30pm. Outside temp shown as 33.5c - inside hot enough to burn my back on the seat. I normally have it set on 21c inside and auto; yesterday I turned it all the way to LO - which I assume is 15.5c as the next notch up is 16c. It took around 10 mins to get down to what I estimated to be the usual 21c with the fan going like the clappers.

 

So in short it's entirely acceptable, but certainly not as good / quick to cool as (for example) my A6 was. 

 

12 minutes ago, juux said:

 

Mine is fine, even in these warmer temperatures. The refrigerant does take a bit longer to cool than some other cars I've had though, so jumping in and setting the fan on anything more than one or two and it'll take a long time to chill down properly. Best to let it cool fully before whacking the fan up.

Might try this tomorrow as a comparison.

[xman]

I just hope my a/c doesn't leak gas over time as my other cars did (over 12 months to 6 years depeding which one). R1234yf gas is eye wateringly expensive. Thank Dupont and the EU cartel for that!

[Lol6]

Not the quickest but works okay.

 

i have a suspicion that if you put the setting onto Lo it will emit colder air quicker.

[Stinker]

2 hours ago, Lol6 said:

Not the quickest but works okay.

 

i have a suspicion that if you put the setting onto Lo it will emit colder air quicker.

Good idea, must try that. 

 

28c here today and cooled the car fine, just doesn’t have that icy feel to the air from the vents. Maybe saves mpg?

[SuperbTWM]

On 26/06/2018 at 13:31, aldouk said:

Anyone else think that their Air con could be cooler and more ice cold?

 

I appreciate we are having a small hot spell currently, but I noticed that the air conditioning in other cars is colder/ice cold and quicker to cool (Nissan Qashqai / MINI)

 

Air conditioning is on normal and not ECO. 2018 Superb sportline. 

 

Mrs also said that our MK3 Octy was better than Superb but one would assume same system/parts.  

 

Just asking if anyone else notices this?...being honest. 

 

I noticed that our Qashqai seemed better than my Superb II but upon measuring the temp at the vents the Superb was actually blowing a bit colder. I'm not sure whether its because the superb (estate) has a lot more space and more glass in it that the qashqai.

 

Once the car is cooled down the AC works very well but it does seem to take a while to cool down the car if its been sat in the sun and is hot inside.

[aldouk]

Ahh yes good point with the size of car and potentially larger glass areas. 

 

It is acceptable, was just an observation on the cooling down aspect. I’ve tested over the last few days and then today in the MINI which yes is a lot smaller and the difference is day and night. 

 

Still wouldnt be without it.

[Rainmaker]

I'm not sure we can blame glass area or size. My wife's new S-Max has much more glass (and volume) than my Superb but her air con makes the car cold enough to hurt my (arthritic) hands within a couple of minutes. Meanwhile in the Superb I'm still sweating and wishing the bloody thing worked better.   It does get there in the end, but efficient and very cold are two things it isn't.

[xman]

After today's drive I totally agree. A/c is weak. With the heatwave, it's also confirmed my worst fears, black leather interior, horrible, hot, sweaty.

It seems the a/c can't really push lots of air without being too loud, and the vents are too directional, but that's common in other cars too.

 

Another disappointment.

[RichardatWakefield]

Have to agree, my elderly Roomster's aircon struggles to cool the big interior (and big glass area onto dark dash, seats, trim), but is better than not having any aircon, also having a bigger aircon unit would use more energy, ie. road fuel, whereas current setup makes barely any impression on the fuel consumption journey average.

 

Guess it's similar scenario to having an electric shower, where, for the (fixed) heat output of the unit, water flow can be varied to adjust the output temp, but if the cold water feed is VERY COLD, you can notice the shower output temp may not be as hot as you'd like.  

Guess my aircon unit can cool a certain volume of air by certain number of degrees, so when the ambient air is very hot, output from aircon won't be as cold as it would in winter.

BTW, does your aircon output only come through the dash vents?  I think mine can be directed to any of the usual combinations of flow directions offered by my heater's rotary direction knob, including through the face-level vents.

Edited 2 July, 2018 by RichardatWakefield
Improve reply to post.

[Sagalout]

My a/c is ice cold within moments of starting and keeps the car comfortable even during this hot spell. I have the L&K and dont know what systems others have. I discovered this in the manual and it may be useful for you to check these settings, if you have them, and haven't already set them to suit your needs.

Operating modes
Automatic mode works in three modes - moderate, medium, and intensive.
Setting of the different modes takes place via the functional surface D
» Fig. 150 on page 116 or » Fig. 151 on page 116.
After the automatic mode is switched on, Climatronic works in the last selected mode. The currently selected mode is displayed in the Infotainment display.
 

[IJWS15]

I don't have the problem.  The other day with the temperature set to 20 and auto when I got in at 17:30, car temperature reading 33, dropped to 28 after 400 yards.  After 2 minutes I was cold.

 

I wind all the windows down as I approach the car, winding them up again as I leave the office car park.

 

I don't have a black interior

[BriskodaJeff]

On 02/07/2018 at 15:12, xman said:

With the heatwave, it's also confirmed my worst fears, black leather interior, horrible, hot, sweaty.

 

Interesting  - this is my third Superb and I've had beige leather, black alcantara and now black leather. I've not found any significant difference between them regarding how hot they feel when you get in. Agree the a/c could be more powerful though, but I thought that about the mk2 as well. 

[bigjohn]

4 hours ago, BriskodaJeff said:

Interesting  - this is my third Superb and I've had beige leather, black alcantara and now black leather. I've not found any significant difference between them regarding how hot they feel when you get in. Agree the a/c could be more powerful though, but I thought that about the mk2 as well. 

 

Whilst the manual aircon is very good in my Superb II I remember the climate control in my Superb I took a long time to chill down but got there in the end. Is this a climate control - control issue? or is this the new refrigerant?

 

Saying that going from climate control to manual aircon - I want climate control back next time. I someimes have to keep turning my manual aircon on/off/on/off/on/off to stop getting too cold / hot

 

The best climate control I ever experienced was in my father in law's Chrysler Neon, was like a meat locker. However the compressor was huge and the car drank like George Best

 

 

Edited 4 July, 2018 by bigjohn

[Baverhanne]

At two different occasions during this heatwave I've noticed that the car cools much quicker when the windows are opened a little bit (this is from standing still in the sun for several hours).

Could it be that the superbs air outlets are a little bit to small?

As a sidenote I totally agree about the Aircon effiency. Our XC70 reaches the set cabin temp in just a few minutes no matter if it's +30 degrees or - 20 degrees. The temperature is also much more even, no cold or hot spots in the cabin.

 

[adamjackdrew]

40 minutes ago, Baverhanne said:

At two different occasions during this heatwave I've noticed that the car cools much quicker when the windows are opened a little bit...

 

You may find that this has something to do with the air con pushing the hot air out of the windows and therefore filling the cabin with cooler air.  Did this once in my old V@uxhall Corsa - was at an airshow so car was sat in sun all day.  Got back to car - unbearable!  Started it, put air con on, closed doors and opened boot - that, to date, is the coldest I have EVER had a car.  

 

I have to admit, the air con in the Superb isn't as effective as the one in my old Insignia, but I'm sure that one was on full time, even when switched off.  The Superb's air con does the job though, but this 'ere "solar reflect glass", or whatever it's called, doesn't do much!  

[Baverhanne]

16 minutes ago, adamjackdrew said:

 

You may find that this has something to do with the air con pushing the hot air out of the windows and therefore filling the cabin with cooler air.  

Exactly my point! Could it be that the outlets of our superbs are to small? On the XC70 the approach with opening the windows doesn't make any difference,

[cheezemonkhai]

Press setup button on the climatronic buttons. 

 

Change from medium to strong.

 

Get a headache from how cold it blows.

[BriskodaJeff]

10 hours ago, cheezemonkhai said:

Press setup button on the climatronic buttons. 

 

Change from medium to strong.

 

Get a headache from how cold it blows.

Hi @cheezemonkhai where is that button? Is it an MY18 thing? Thanks. 

[cheezemonkhai]

It looks like it might be menu on the superb as opposed to setup on the Octavia.

[BriskodaJeff]

1 minute ago, cheezemonkhai said:

It looks like it might be menu on the superb as opposed to setup on the Octavia.

Thanks. I've had a quick look at the menu functions but couldn't find anything. Anyone else done this?

[Baverhanne]

Look at the middle wheel of climatic. Press "menu"