General info and advantages
Because the UK has a temperate climate many people have assumed that air-conditioning in their car would be a rarely used luxury that was not worth paying for. Now that we have experienced several relatively warm years (and 2006 being the warmest year in the UK for over 300 years) the benefits of air-conditioning are gradually being generally accepted. Moreover the additional benefits that are not immediately obvious are now being appreciated by those fortunate to have a good system operating in their car.
What are these benefits?
• The ability to reduce the in-car temperature to a comfortable
level on exceedingly hot days, without having a seventy mile an hour gale
buffeting you and being unable to hear the radio or your passengers because
of the wind-noise.
• If you have youngish children you will quickly appreciate the
extra quiet in the back – aircon seems to almost magically remove
the bad temper from most children.
• As aircon also conditions the air, the ability to remove the moisture
from the air coming into the car on really muggy days and to achieve a
comfortable atmosphere within the car, perhaps in conjunction with the
heater control - the AC button will control the Relative Humidity and
the heater if needed will control the temperature leaving you free to
enjoy the warmth without being stuffy. Very few cars are not able to utilise
this extremely useful facility.
• The ability to be able to see through the windscreen and all the
other glass clearly without a film of mist. The safety aspect of aircon
is often overlooked but is extremely important, particularly to the people-carriers
which are becoming so popular now. Using the AC button to direct the air
to the screen the moisture on the glass will be evaporated very rapidly,
long before a screen-heater has had a chance to warm up and will continue
this advantage around the side glasses and on to the rear screen. For
best effect use the AC button, perhaps in conjunction with the heater
in winter and on the fresh air setting (not recirculation). AC is usually
extremely good at de-misting and this safety aspect of good all round
visibility, even when picking up a crowd of wet noisy kids in winter,
is one of AC's strong points.
• The cleaner, fresher air with low Relative Humidity will enhance
driver awareness and help prevent drowsiness making your journeys and
those of your loved ones safer over long distances as drivers are better
able to remain fresh and alert.
• Being caught in a long traffic jam on a hot day can be purgatory
with all the exhaust fumes coming straight into your open windows, particularly
if you are dressed for business - wet under the arms and hot under the
collar- probably the time when you most wished that you had bought a car
with aircon. This is when AC proves it is one of the nicest affordable
luxuries.
• All the air coming into a car with aircon passes through a heat-exchanger,
which as it is very cold, quickly becomes dripping with condensation,
which collects and drains out under the car. Air entering this heat exchanger
will contain dust and pollen grains, but by the time the air has passed
through this heat-exchanger (called the evaporator) the vast majority
of these pollutants will have been filtered out, trapped by the condensate
and dripped back onto the road. It is estimated that approximately 80%
of all dust and pollen is trapped in this way on each pass through the
evaporator - this helps us all but is a source of particular relief to
Hay Fever sufferers or Asthmatics.
• By allowing all car windows to remain closed, even on the hottest
days, the aerodynamics of the car remain at optimum, keeping fuel consumption
low and exterior noise to a minimum, increasing safety to the driver and
passengers.
Any disadvantages? A couple of minor ones - Opera singers or even actors can find that the dry air can degrade their voice.
Slightly more common though are the contact lens wearers who can find after some hours in the dry air that their lens can make the eyes feel uncomfortable.