Climate Control of choice?

[scott]

I have noticed on the newer Ventura/National units such as the Bubbles, the Evo II K230's and the second batch of Orbitors, the airconditioning control is simply a rocker switch on the dashboard, these are Denso units.

Is there any adjustment available, or is it all sealed up and completely automatic, and runs solely on a computer to determine whether to heat or cool?

[railex]

An issue with an aircon unit on a Tokyu (Japanese) DMU.

The problem is the aircon system will start ok at 5.30am and run cool but by around 6.30am half way through the 1st trip of the day it will start blowing out hot humid air into the carriage. By the end of the trip at 7am the aircon has completely failed and wont even blow hot or cool air. This means the rest of the day the back up windows will be open and the carriage will be hot.

Do the air conditioning systems on DMUs operate the same way as on a metro bus. The make of the aircon system is unknown. But the unit appears to be under the floor with two pipes running up the inside of the wall to the roof.

What is the most likely reason for this regular failure of the aircon system on these DMUs. The DMUs are around 30 years old.

What could be done to get them working properly again so its actually cool all day.

[mca96]

My choice would have to be Thermo King easy to get parts for easy to use. in winter depends on if the roof heaters have been flushed out properly is to the amount of heat that comes out. also comes down to the driver how they used it. i was taking a Denning Pheonex to Bris the other week and that had Thero King A/c and i couldnt get it to it to heat up i had the a/c on heat to get the heat up but then i had to use the demister cos the front window was fogging up then when i turned it to auto heat cool it was just to cold. was weird never had a problem with that be for

[deepthought2006]

Despite a/c, most STA buses I have seen recently during wet weather have fogged up windows.

This is usually because the demister has not been activated by the driver or it is running at the low fan speed setting and the windscreen is clear in front of the driver from normal airflow within the bus (driver's window open).

If the demister is in use, (particularly if it is on the high fan speed setting) it will not only clear the windscreen and adjacent windows for good driver vision, it will also gradually heat up the air in the bus and trigger the airconditioning's cooling mode. In the airconditioning cooling mode, as in your car, atmospheric moisture is removed quite quickly and ALL the windows in the bus will clear. The only problem is that, if it is a cold AND wet day (as they usually are ) the majority of the saloon will soon become very cold from the efforts of the airconditioning trying to overcome the heat from the demister. So for passenger comfort (and less noise), the demister is usually left on the low setting or turned off altogether.

The other thing for a driver to consider is that when the demister is first switched on, it will pump the (relatively warm) moist air from the saloon over the cold windscreen. Instant total fogup! No see, no go! It's kind of awkward if the bus is somewhere like in the middle of Sydney Harbour bridge when this happens .

All of this of course is dependent on there being sufficient heat in the engine coolant system. If the bus has just come out of the depot for the first trip of the morning, it can take at least half an hour of normal running before the coolant temperature running through the demister is sufficient to trigger the airconditioning cooling mode.

[Mr Bean]

I understand the more modern A?C units namely the Coachairs in STAs gas mercs and Volvos, and the Thermoking units have a humidity sensor which will activate both the cooling and heating functions together (they can operate simultaneously since the cooling is by compressor and the heating by circulated coolant). This will have the effect of removing moisture from the air and keeping the saloon warm at the same time. It can seem to take the first 1/2 - 1 hour of operationg before it reaches an equilibrium and does this though. The Transitair units in STA's Scanias are old and don't do this.

[Andrew]

My climate control of choice is an opening driver's window. What happens to the climate behind me is of minor consequence....

[Daz]

What happens to the climate behind me is of minor consequence

Hardly...

Driver, my arse is sweating. It's too hot/cold/I have nothing better to do than whinge.

Daz

[Andrew]

I must appear unapproachable - no-one has ever said anything to me about it!

[Windy]

You need the aviators back to complete the unapproachable image

[Vitalstatistix]

I quite like the Thermo King ShuttleAire SR-50S. They are awsome units and good with heating and cooling.
I believe these are fitted to Metrobus Volgren K310UA's?

[C130]

Yeah, they look like the ones fitted to the Volgren('s?)

[Vitalstatistix]

Yeah, they look like the ones fitted to the Volgren('s?)

Oh so theres only 1

[busrider]

The Volgren Metrobus artic is a N310UA anyway, I think... The K310UA has a CB60 Evo II on it.