View Full Version : visible steam on Air Con
smarc78
24-04-2012, 02:01 PM
hi guys,
i have just recently made trip to hunter from sydney thru putty road... we used air con on and off as my wife was cold and then windows open were quite noisy... after some time i turned on air con and there was visible steam coming out of outlets... aircon turned it off and it stopped... aircon turned on steamy... and it disappeared after like 2-3 min... the aircon works perfect... it was not smelly and outside temperature might have been different as Putty Road is quite in shade most of the time... i though its engine getting hot - but it wasnt that...
any ideas -
cheers
m
MadMax
24-04-2012, 03:30 PM
High cabin humidity can do that, it's called "Fog". Google it. lol
Mecha-wombat
25-04-2012, 10:08 AM
What the Troll said
MadMax
25-04-2012, 12:25 PM
What the Troll said
What the wobbly chocolate coated scary monster said
smarc78
26-04-2012, 11:12 AM
wasnt high cabin humidity... and it was for couple of minutes only and disappeared - same driving conditions for about 1,5 hours...
MadMax
26-04-2012, 11:28 AM
Moist air from outside or inside of the car can turn to fog when it hits the cold aircon evaporator under the dash. Seen it before in several different cars. Trust me, it's harmless.
If you have a different explanation, I'd like to hear it. lol
xclackers
26-04-2012, 05:10 PM
Normal... pretty sure it even said it in the owners manual of a 380 or magna
flyboy
26-04-2012, 05:38 PM
wasnt high cabin humidity... and it was for couple of minutes only and disappeared - same driving conditions for about 1,5 hours...
So you know the cabin humidity in the car how???
You said you had the windows down, then you turned the aircon on, then it fogged, then it disappeared in a few minutes.
1. Moist ambient air comes in through windows
2. Car is filled with moist air
3. You close windows and turn aircon on
4. Cold aircon air mixes with warm cabin air as it exits the vents, condensing the moisture from the cabin air into fog
5. Cabin eventually fills with conditioned air from aircon which is drier, fog stops forming
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_does_a_fog_come_out_of_your_car_vents_when_you _turn_on_the_air_conditioner
Happens on aircraft in the tropics (warm, moist air in cabin mixes with cold air from aircon). Happens when you open the freezer door (warm, moist air in kitchen mixes with cold air from inside freezer).
It's not rocket science.
genebaby
26-04-2012, 05:41 PM
This happened on my XF Ghia, but it would not stop. It was the heater coil or box or something inside the dash. Had to have the dash removed to fix it. The heater was unusable and I needed it in winter!
MadMax
26-04-2012, 07:36 PM
So you know the cabin humidity in the car how???
You said you had the windows down, then you turned the aircon on, then it fogged, then it disappeared in a few minutes.
1. Moist ambient air comes in through windows
2. Car is filled with moist air
3. You close windows and turn aircon on
4. Cold aircon air mixes with warm cabin air as it exits the vents, condensing the moisture from the cabin air into fog
5. Cabin eventually fills with conditioned air from aircon which is drier, fog stops forming
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_does_a_fog_come_out_of_your_car_vents_when_you _turn_on_the_air_conditioner
Happens on aircraft in the tropics (warm, moist air in cabin mixes with cold air from aircon). Happens when you open the freezer door (warm, moist air in kitchen mixes with cold air from inside freezer).
It's not rocket science.
Brilliant explanation! Take a bow, Sir!
To add: After a while, the evaporator in the dash gets much cooler, and the water vapour in the air passing through it condenses completely, and the water drips down through a tube under the car. That's why it stops fogging after a few minutes.
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