Every so often I seem to develop an annoying tickly cough - and I'm starting to wonder if it ties in with my using the car's air conditioning system. I suspect that if fungi are thriving in the system, a sudden through drought will be an excellent method of dispersing spores.
Has anyone else come across this problem?
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Could be. Most a/c specialists can cleanse your system for you.
However, it could be that if you often use it in recirc mode then it will be drying out the air in the car which then dries out your throat (does the same to my soft contacts). Try making sure it's always pulling in freash air for a while to see if it makes any diff.
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However, it could be that if you often use it in recirc mode then it will be drying out the air in the car which then dries out your throat (does the same to my soft contacts).
Car A/C is not true air conditioning.
It should really be called comfort cooling.
Air conditioning includes the addition of moisture (humidification) If this is absent, then the air will tend to be dried out.
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Car A/C is not true air conditioning.
It should really be called comfort cooling. >>
Upmarket cars claim have climate control. How does this differ from a/c?
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One thing that you really must check is the pollen filter.
I don't know how old your car is, but likely it will have been missed over umpteen services.
Friends who complained about heater output were truly shocked at the choked object that we removed.
Furry, with leaves and dust, so bad it eventually failed to let air through.
Immediately beforehand, you'd be breathing furry organisms.
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"True air conditioning" only adds moisture when the relative humidity is below about 40%. Since the relative humidity in Europe is typically 50-60%, or more, adding moisture is un-necessary. Doc's comment only applies in places like the Middle east.
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I don't want to labour the point and be pedantic, but my comment was really a criticism of inaccurate modern terminology.
My old Oscar Faber text book gives the definition of A/C as:
the delivery of filtered air that can be warmed or cooled and have its humidity raised or lowered.
I accept that moisture would only be added in winter, when the warming effect of the plant would lower the relative humidity.
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I've designed commercial A/C. Doc's got it right. The parameters that you can control are temperature, humidity and cleanliness. In cars the humidity is neither measured nor controlled.
Low humidity is normally a problem in winter. The relative humidity is relative to the air temperature. If you take in air at 100% Rh and , say, 5 degC, when you've heated it to around 21 degC the Rh will be somewhere around 25%; 50% is comfortable. I don't have a psychrometric chart to hand, so these figures are very approximate. This can be a problem in heated buildings, with no humidty control; the low Rh can cause eye irritation to contact lense wearers, static electric problems and cracking of wooden artefacts, like musical instruments.
In summer, it is usually high humidity that's a problem. If air at 28 degC and 50% Rh is cooled to a comfortable 21 degC, the Rh will be around 80%, uncomfortably humid.
I'm not familiar with the controls on car A/C, but if the air is repeatedly being passed over the DX cooling coil, which would be at around 4 degc, the water vapour will be condensed. I don't think cars have any humidity sensors, so the Rh isn't controlled in any way. I think it's quite likely that this is a low Rh problem, but you'd need an Rh meter to confirm this.
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I have never owned a car with AC but hired a car recently in Cyprus (Mazda) and very good it was too..
However my eyes smarted constantly whenever it was turned on.
Turning the AC off and the stinging pain stopped.
No explanation for it but obviously AC dosn't suit everyone.
alvin
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All my vehicles for the last 27 years (and that's double figures) have always used A/C and I've never had this kind of problem nor has anyone else I know. I never use the "fresh air" setting because I don't enjoy second hand diesel fumes. Maybe you had the vents wrongly angled?
The only unpleasantness I can think of in this connection is when Saudi taxi drivers smoke with the aircon on. That, combined with recycled BO from a wide selection of previous users, IS uncomfortable.
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The only unpleasantness I can think of in this connection is when Saudi taxi drivers smoke with the aircon on. That, combined with recycled BO from a wide selection of previous users, IS uncomfortable.
Ahhh yes I remember it well. In the kingdom I had a variety of Oriental cars most with aircons that needed re-gas ever month. Company paid so it certainly was preferable to chewing dust with the windows open. I have not had any problems with aircons during 25 years or so.
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My AC/CC (call it what you may) tends to dry my throat out but not quite badly enough to induce a tickly cough. The handbook says that the air is cooled and dried so, for example, you get in the car with damp clothes and the screen starts misting up, turn on the AC/CC to dry the air and prevent misting.
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