quick question....maybe dumb...

[vxc]

as you turn air con on, the rad fans spin up

which would be aiding in cooling the rad , unless there some hidden reason it isnt?

what am getting at is, if am sitting in traffic i can turn turn the air con on to bring th temps down no?

cheers if anyone can be bothered

[vxc]

anyone?

[kenny]

I thought turning the air con up created more work load on the engine therefore increasing heat. Prepared to be wrong....

[campbell]

You got me thinking.

So I googled it. Check this:

http://autorepair.about.com/od/glossary ... rks_ac.htm

I think the rad fan that spins up may actually be for the condenser? Or it may be an additional rad fan since, as Kenny says, you are asking the engine to work harder to run the air con as well, hence maybe more heat generation (the compressor part of the a/c system which cools the gas is run off a pulley from the fanbelt, as I understand it).

[Hambo]

The AC hase a radator as well it ushaly sits in frunt of the ENG radator. The same fan duz both. So if it is on for
the AC the ENG is coold as well.

[vxc]

okay had a wee try out on this.....engine went to 92, turned the air con on for 2 mins and temp went down to 91....
stationary testing

so......have i discovered a temporary relief for some ac fitted lotus drivers?!

now i havent tested this in traffic yet but will do and let you know, but if temps go down am happy!

[neil]

92's nothing to worry about though. If it gets too hot it'll turn the fan on itself

[vxc]

92's nothing to worry about though. If it gets too hot it'll turn the fan on itself

oh yeah totally agree, i tested all this a few weeks back, fans cut in at 97 and off again at 92.
but was just thinking about this one wen i was sitting in my car.
and if anything can be a pre-emtive measure for anyone that worries in traffic, if it works that is....

[neil]

Anyone who's worrying about it will probably be sat in an S1, which wont have air con anyway

[vxc]

lol....

i kind off worry about after having the pipe come off in mines....no ally rad yet....

[neil]

If the pipe comes off again the fan being on wont help you much. I've got the ProAlloy radiator in mine now and its nice and shiny, but I wouldn't have rushed out to get one had the last one not failed. From what I've heard, your unlikely to get a catastrophic failure, it'll just start slowly leaking so you should get plenty of warning if it does start to go providing you check your coolant level occasionally.

[ClarkyBoy]

all you need to do is screw your heater up - blast the fan on full bore and you will see your temp drop off - as heat is removed from the rad and distributed through the cabin, irrespective of whether or not it has aircon or not, its something i have allways gone buy and it works, obviously for a prolonged time on traffic there is only so much the fan can do but usually does the job till you can get moving again....usually...

[vxc]

all you need to do is screw your heater up - blast the fan on full bore and you will see your temp drop off - as heat is removed from the rad and distributed through the cabin, irrespective of whether or not it has aircon or not, its something i have allways gone buy and it works, obviously for a prolonged time on traffic there is only so much the fan can do but usually does the job till you can get moving again....usually...

hmm...never knew this ...will try it out.....i pressume u mean without the actual heat on.....

[neil]

all you need to do is screw your heater up - blast the fan on full bore and you will see your temp drop off - as heat is removed from the rad and distributed through the cabin, irrespective of whether or not it has aircon or not, its something i have allways gone buy and it works, obviously for a prolonged time on traffic there is only so much the fan can do but usually does the job till you can get moving again....usually...

hmm...never knew this ...will try it out.....i pressume u mean without the actual heat on.....

He means with the heat on full. Only problem is you'll get hot

[vxc]

hell...thats no problem .... just roll the windows down...

hmmm...full heater and fans going with the aircon on...that can only lead to problems....might try it.....