It's getting hot in here!

Alasdair Anderson:

I have a car without air conditioning and use the windows......

 

I much prefer to open the windows but also use the air con from time to time (as per Roy's post maybe that's why it's now not working?) 


I do like to subject my fellow commuters to a bit of opera in the morning... 


 

Alasdair Anderson:

So if the modern day refrigerants are less effective we have the choice to use more power and increase greenhouse gases, or use old refrigerants and deplete the ozone layer.

Personally I use the third option - I have a car without air conditioning and use the windows......

Alasdair

Not such a great option of it's a hot day and the M25 has ground to a halt again.  Open the windows and get deafened by the traffic noise from the cars going the other way, or close them and get cooked.  I've spent too long on motorways crawling along in a car with no air conditioning.

Simon,

I also have to negotiate the M25 and agree it is not such a great option, but apart from a few weeks in summer (or this year, perhaps a few months...) it is not much of a problem. I admit that last week as I was driving about 600 miles visiting various places I borrowed my wife's car with air conditioning, despite the higher fuel consumption (it has a bigger engine, so fuel consumption is higher even without using the air-con) and it was much more comfortable, but normally I will cope fine without, even when stuck in queues.

If you look back at what cars normally had in the past, air conditioning is a relatively recent addition, and even heating was only provided after the second world war. There is a letter in the "Lyttelton-Hart Davis Letters", dated around the late 50's, where Rupert Hart-Davis (father of Adam) proudly boasts to George Lyttelton (father of Humphrey) that his new car has a heater which makes driving in winter so much more comfortable.

Alasdair

My wife recently visited my daughter who was working at the Natural History Museum, and was very aware that the old stone built part was lovely and cool, whereas the new state-of-the-art metal and glass part was uncomfortably warm - despite, presumably, having air-con chuntering away. Call me old fashioned, but stopping the heat transferring into the building in the first place does seem to work rather better! Plus, and those who know more about thermodynamics than me can help here, it does appear that the stone acts as a heat sink to conduct away heat that does get in? Particularly through the floor - I'm thinking now of my house and my mothers' house both which have Edwardian tiled hall floors which seem to be excellent for cooling in summer.  

 

I do accept that fitting a tiled floor to a car would increase the fuel consumption so as to completely outweigh the fuel saving benefits of not having air-con.  And wouldn't work as it has no mass of earth to conduct to.


Cheers, Andy

Wallace Ardman:

Does a convertible car count as having air conditioning?

When I had a convertible, I found the worst time to put the top down was a hot sunny day.  I just got baked by the sun.


A pleasant summer evening was another matter.  Or even a clear day in winter.  It seems a bit silly putting the roof down and the heater on, but it works!

.... aaaand with exceptional timing, the Air Conditioning at Michael Faraday House has decided to stop working.... 


We're all melting..... please send ice creams.... 

Have some snow too...

Alternatively..."Come to beautiful cloudy windy Cornwall!" Now there's a tourist slogan you don't hear everyday - just took this photo out of our landing window...

Much thanks to Aaron Thiele‍ for running out and buying some ice lollies for the team....