[VikingOne]

Air Con / Climate Control

I cant understand the climate setup, I assume as we have temperature settings, then we must have climate control with ac.

In my previous cars, I set temperature, and if the temp was too cold the heaters would come on and the blowers(fans) on full, and as the temp reached my requested temp, the blowers would slow down, and finally stop.
If the temp was too hot, the air con would go to full, with full blowers until requested temp reached.

In the X3 I set the temp and press auto, but the blowers stay the same no mater the temp set or inside temp, the * (ac) light stays on no matter the temp. The only thing that seems to adjust is if I slide the manual temp wheel on the centre vents, red it gets warmer, and blue gets colder, no matter what the temp setting is set to.

I thought I could just get the ac set to 20c and press auto, and then leave everything else alone, and the car would be kept at 20c.

Am I doing something wrong?

[TuffLittleUnit]

+1

I've been too embarrassed to ask why there is a manual warm/cold wheel on the centre vents when the car has climate control.

Lotus or one of the other respected experts will be along in a min to explain all, I'm sure

[ILuvMy335i]

Well, I aint no Lotus on the matter, but my understanding is that the vent control is to allow you to adjust the temp of the air hitting your face so as to do things like keep yourself alert (cold air on face) while the rest of your body is warm. Its just another adjustment that's all. I keep mine in the centre but tend to play with it in winter when my feet are freezing but my face is not too cold.

[sfax]

There are some nuances and it's worth if you haven't already. I was surprised by a few things like the fact you can change the power when on AUTO - other cars I have driven immediately switch off AUTO if you touch any of the controls. If you find AUTO isn't getting the car to the right temperature quickly enough, you may have to increase the power. I think the manual temp vents front and back are for quick "it's too hot/too cold" adjustments but not really played with them much

[Nahoa]

Set to Auto with AC "snowflake" on and select temp that suits you and it'll stay there.

In Auto, you can adjust fan speed to employ the Auto program with more or less air flow (kind of from a German, "there's a draft in here" low to American "keep it flowing" high). The system will blow more or less air as needed, but with a softer or harder program. This is not the same as when in manual mode at which point you're setting a constant fan speed directly vice a fan program.

The manual temp control in the front is to set the bias to cooler/warmer at chest level. In back it's just warmer/colder air out of those two vents.

[dandanio]

Originally Posted by Nahoa

Set to Auto with AC "snowflake" on and select temp that suits you and it'll stay there.[...]

+1, I was just about to write the same thing!

[brissim]

I must concur with many of of the comments here. Yes I have read the manual and understand what does what - but what I don't understand is why? This is my first BMW and with all my previous cars which had "auto climate control" you simply pushed a button to put it into auto and then dialed up the temperature you wanted - end of story. As per the OP, the system then looked after fan speed and even whether the air-conditioner and/or heater was on or not.

And this seemingly complicated system then flows on to the window demisting controls. Yes I now know how it works on the X3, and yes it is very effective, but again - why does it have to be so complicated compared with previous cars I've owned? My immediate past cars were Volvos and both the climate control and window demisting were much simplier to understand and use.

Tony

[Nahoa]

? It does work the way you say you'd prefer -- set to Auto and set a temp. That you can change the airflow and the upper bias if you want doesn't change anything.

[brissim]

Originally Posted by Nahoa

? It does work the way you say you'd prefer -- set to Auto and set a temp. That you can change the airflow and the upper bias if you want doesn't change anything.

Yes - but again my question is why?

Tony

[Le Chef]

Why what? The HVAC system users heat sensors in the vehicle to monitor temperature. you set the temperature you want and the heat sensors tell the HVAC system whether the cabin temperature is under or over you desired temp. It will then cool down or heat up depending on what's needed.

[TreeSkier]

Originally Posted by Nahoa

? It does work the way you say you'd prefer -- set to Auto and set a temp. That you can change the airflow and the upper bias if you want doesn't change anything.

Personally, I love the ability to manually tweak the temp of the upper vents and think it works well (even though it is a manual feature). I was surprised that you can change the fan speed in the auto mode but the more I think about it, the more I like the option also.

[brissim]

Originally Posted by Le Chef

Why what? The HVAC system users heat sensors in the vehicle to monitor temperature. you set the temperature you want and the heat sensors tell the HVAC system whether the cabin temperature is under or over you desired temp. It will then cool down or heat up depending on what's needed.

Sorry - you misunderstand my question. As per my original post in this thread of course I understand how it works - my question is why does BMW have to make it so complicated - particularly in regard to the variable maximum fan speed. The "snowflake" I also understand - it simply turns the air-conditioning part of climate control off. I do recall some SAABs with the same feature which they call an "eco-mode" if I remember correctly.

As an Engineer I dispair every time I see something which is - IMO - unneccessarily complicated. Its just something else to go wrong. Auto ON/OFF with your desired temperatures is all that is needed.

Tony

[sfax]

I don't see the point in having to manually control the fan speed in AUTO mode either. It should do that for you. This is a particular problem if it's set too low and you select a temperature that is a few degrees different to the ambient temperature - it simply can't get there. In every other car I've driven with half decent A/C it changes the fan speed in AUTO. I think it does actually switch the snowflake automatically in AUTO if you select a low enough temperature but I might be wrong.

[Nahoa]

It does automatically adjust the fan speed in Auto. When getting in the car when it's hot inside, the AC set to Auto and a comfortable temp set it'll blow a lot of air as it cools it down then slow the fan as it reaches temp. However, if you like more air constantly moving, you can adjust the Auto program up and it won't slow as much. It's not a manual setting of the fan speed, it's a selection of the intensity of the Auto program.

[sfax]

Originally Posted by Nahoa

It does automatically adjust the fan speed in Auto. When getting in the car when it's hot inside, the AC set to Auto and a comfortable temp set it'll blow a lot of air as it cools it down then slow the fan as it reaches temp. However, if you like more air constantly moving, you can adjust the Auto program up and it won't slow as much. It's not a manual setting of the fan speed, it's a selection of the intensity of the Auto program.

Aha, so it doesn't remember that last time you were on AUTO you turned down the intensity? I think I need to play with it a bit more.

[TuffLittleUnit]

Who was it said ?



I'd read the manual but there are several sections where it doesn't really explain the overall result of a set of controls. It's a case of "pressing this button does x" and it doesn't really do a good job of putting that into an overall context.

The worst offending section is the one on traction control etc. We've seen that recently here on the forum where people have asked what settings to use in snow etc. The manual tells you what buttons to press to remove stability/traction control etc but I don't know whether driving effectively in snow benefits from turning these on or off. It's kind of the same with the aircon for me.

[Le Chef]

I don't know...it doesn't seem complicated to me. My wife set the temperature on day 1, hit the auto button and that was it. Never been touched since and never needed to be. It's "doh!" simple in my opinion.

[Nahoa]

It does remember that you turned down the intensity. When you turn it back on it remembers which of the Auto programs you selected. If you don't want the lower program, don't do that. For me, there's usually no reason to mess with it. I like the second to lowest program and it stays there almost always.

[sfax]

Originally Posted by Nahoa

It does remember that you turned down the intensity. When you turn it back on it remembers which of the Auto programs you selected. If you don't want the lower program, don't do that. For me, there's usually no reason to mess with it. I like the second to lowest program and it stays there almost always.

I think this is the problem in my case then. I think I must have turned it down by mistake which was then remembered and consequently AUTO became less effective for a while. If I get it back on the default intensity and leave it there, I should be OK. Thanks for the info Nahoa