what? air conditioning?

ok, im confused, today i was watching the news and they had a mom who had left her kids in the car. she had the car running w/ the ac on. (still not any excuse) now for my question, the news interviewed a patrol officer and he claimed that people shouldnt do this because the air conditioning needs air flow to work. this guy claimed that ac doesnt work unless the car is moving. i think he is completely full of crap. i can go outside right now and start my car and let it idle and run the ac all day and it will keep it cool. so is this guy just a moron or am i going crazy :uhoh: and "imagine" i feel cold air when my cars stopped??? i can see it mabye being a little cooler once the car is moving since the rpm's rise but its still cold at an idle.
since the ac runs off a belt from the crankshaft to the compresser which has the freon and so forth making it cool. so i dont have any idea how he could say that the car has to be moving. he even said that "many car manufactures would agree" with him.
in fact i know im right! i just cant stand how dumb he was, and acted like he was an ase certified mechanic or something. :banghead:
i feel like e-mailing the news station and telling them how dumb the guy they interviewed was. AHH.
and im only 17 and it almost makes me second guess my automotive knowledge. so i must ask if im wrong?

just had to rant alittle :wink:
-thanks

2/70 AC's only work with the car moving.

there is two obvious issues with AC when a car is stopped and idling. One being the RPM being low at idle....depending on the pump, this may or may not be a problem. A variable compressor won't care as much as a traditional pump.

The other issue is the air flow over the condensor. The AC won't work if it can't shed the heat, and that requires air flow. Fans can only push so much air.

But as you point out....as is obvious to anyone that has a properly working AC system, they are all designed to "work" at idle. It may not work as well, but it will most definitely work.

just for the sake of learning what is 2/70 ac?
-thanks

Two windows down, 70mph.

well, there ya go!:grinyes: its the only reliable type of ac :lol:

not if your windows jam :p

well, that could pose a problem... but as well as you can keep one of them windows working it'll be all good! :wink:

when they both jam, you got yourself a real problem :grinyes: but at least you'll have a moble sauna

ok, im confused, today i was watching the news and they had a mom who had left her kids in the car. she had the car running w/ the ac on. (still not any excuse) now for my question, the news interviewed a patrol officer and he claimed that people shouldnt do this because the air conditioning needs air flow to work. this guy claimed that ac doesnt work unless the car is moving. i think he is completely full of crap. i can go outside right now and start my car and let it idle and run the ac all day and it will keep it cool. so is this guy just a moron or am i going crazy :uhoh: and "imagine" i feel cold air when my cars stopped??? i can see it mabye being a little cooler once the car is moving since the rpm's rise but its still cold at an idle.
since the ac runs off a belt from the crankshaft to the compresser which has the freon and so forth making it cool. so i dont have any idea how he could say that the car has to be moving. he even said that "many car manufactures would agree" with him.
in fact i know im right! i just cant stand how dumb he was, and acted like he was an ase certified mechanic or something. :banghead:
i feel like e-mailing the news station and telling them how dumb the guy they interviewed was. AHH.
and im only 17 and it almost makes me second guess my automotive knowledge. so i must ask if im wrong?

just had to rant alittle :wink:
-thanks


The air cond will still work ok at idle no problem. But they do cool better going down the road or when engine is at higher a RPM.
But leaving kids in a car and the engine running may not be the best idea or even against the law some places.
I would think the police would have been more conserned about that than the air cond part.
MT

which i completely agree about not leaving kids in the car. the only reason they addressed the ac is because alot of people think it's ok to leave the kids in the car with the ac on, however it never helps when you have a cop lying to the public (or he just had no idea about ac) to make them stop doing that.
all he had to say is that it's possible for the ac to malfunction. not say it doesnt work at an idle. then your going to have people testing it and thinking "well in my car it works at an idle", then thinking they can leave the kids in the car and sure enough theyll end up arrested and in the wrost case the kids dying from heat exhaustion.

*moral of the story*
- dont leave your kids in the car alone. its to dangerous! is risking your kids life worth your convenience of not dragging them around in a store?

just my :2cents:

Im amazed no one has mentioned CO and CO2.

If the A/C is running then the engine is on, if the engine is on then there is exhaust gas coming out the exhaust pipe. That means CO and CO2 in the air around the car, which means theres a chance it might get drawn into the car through the A/C.
A very peaceful way to fill your kids.

Im amazed no one has mentioned CO and CO2.

If the A/C is running then the engine is on, if the engine is on then there is exhaust gas coming out the exhaust pipe. That means CO and CO2 in the air around the car, which means theres a chance it might get drawn into the car through the A/C.
A very peaceful way to fill your kids.

can't say I've heard of too many cases of people dieing or passing out while stuck in stop and go traffic. The odds of this happening are pretty dang minute. The simple fact that you have air circilating in the car at a decent rate, means that you would have to have a large quantity of CO and/or CO2 directed at the intake of the HVAC system, which is typically at the front windshield....not a common problem

not a common problem


In 99% of modern cars, I would says its highly unlikely.
However, an older car, with a rusty floor and leaky exhaust could be very dangerous.

In 99% of modern cars, I would says its highly unlikely.
However, an older car, with a rusty floor and leaky exhaust could be very dangerous.

a leaky floor won't matter if the intake is at the windshield. Again, you're talking very low odds.

If it was a customized turbo'd car, that had a dump pipe that ended really close to the intake for the HVAC (like a car of that type would still have AC, let alone HVAC)...and the car had no hood, then it might be a high enough quanity....but for the run of the mill exhaust leak, even a very large one at the manifold, will be blown under the car, not towards the HVAC intake, because teh hood is for the most part sealed, so the fumes would not have a direct path to the intake.

We all conceed its a bad idea to leave the kids in the car a/c or no a/c, just not safe.

Obviously the cop felt he had to say something. He COULD have used any of the following --

"If the car stalled or over heated and the engine stopped, the ac stops."

"Kids have been known to play around with the gearshift, ignition, etc. and so it presents a hazard."

"Its just against the law to leave the kids in the car. AC or not."

"No comment."

"I'm just a patrol officer, what do you want from me?"

When I was a young chittlin we would ride to the store- standing up on the front seat, and sit there for hours playing withourselves alone in the car. Moral of the story; kids today are pussies.

On top of that it's a waste of gas to let a car sit there idling wiht the A/C on.

Although it's a bad idea to leave the kids in the car, the cop is full of crap with his reasoning. I think the government shouldn't treat its citizens like children; we should be treated as adults here, especially considering that, in a democratic society, we're the ones in charge here anyway. I think more people would follow the law if they knew better reasons to follow them instead of just "because I said so." Teenagers quickly outgrow the "because I said so" reasoning and begin experimenting on their own, and it's only in adulthood that people realize the REAL reasons why their parents had the rules they did. I think the government shouldn't fill stupid people's ears with crap, and they should do better research and provide better reasoning. If reasoning can't be found (after a LOT of research), the law should be repealed.

the reason they have laws like this is because of a few people that have killed their kids unintentionally by leaving them in the car with the windows up and no ac. now they have this law and they can't make an exception simply because the ac was on. although it sucks for some people, it's for the betterment of society.... even though the stupid ones are the ones that'll kill their kids and it's kind of weeding out the weak ones since their kids are bound to be retarded.

Everything is dumb proofed now. Look at playgrounds. They used to be wood and metal. Now everything is plastic and padded metal. I remember I never wore a bike helmet (still never do) and now every kid wears one along wiht a crapload of pads. Also they don't even want kids in the frong seat. I rember when I was in kindergarden (1994-1995) I'd always sit in the front and sling the shoudler part of the seatbelt behind back. Man times have changed even in only 10 years.

the reason they have laws like this is because of a few people that have killed their kids unintentionally by leaving them in the car with the windows up and no ac. now they have this law and they can't make an exception simply because the ac was on. although it sucks for some people, it's for the betterment of society.... even though the stupid ones are the ones that'll kill their kids and it's kind of weeding out the weak ones since their kids are bound to be retarded.

One of the things that I would hope separate humans from animals is that we care not only for the survival of our species as a whole but that we care for its individuals as well. I don't think Darwinism, applied to society, should serve as a basis for morality. It's a theory on how things work; it shouldn't serve as a reference for your own actions. That makes it irrelevant here because we're not interested in a scientific study of things; we're interested in whether kids should be left in the car. Frankly, it ought to be a shame upon society if even one human life could have been spared, even if it's because the parent is a moron.

Despite the AC, I still think it's stupid to leave kids in the car. There will be some stupid enough to put the car in gear, etc. There should be some minimum standard of mental capacity for a person to be left alone in a car, but the trick is in how you define it. They should definitely be able to open the doors/windows on their own, but they should also have enough sense to not attempt to drive the car. If a kid does something stupid with a car or is injured as a result, regardless of this "mental capacity" stipulation, the parent should still be held responsible because it's their car, and they're responsible for who gets the keys and who doesn't.

One of the things that I would hope separate humans from animals is that we care not only for the survival of our species as a whole but that we care for its individuals as well. I don't think Darwinism, applied to society, should serve as a basis for morality. It's a theory on how things work; it shouldn't serve as a reference for your own actions. That makes it irrelevant here because we're not interested in a scientific study of things; we're interested in whether kids should be left in the car. Frankly, it ought to be a shame upon society if even one human life could have been spared, even if it's because the parent is a moron.
i was just joking about that whole survival of the fitest thing. although sometimes i wonder how the world would be without all these retards lol.

as for the child proofing stuff, most of it is because of kids dying from car accidents, and other stuff like that. the problem is that parents take it too far and don't let their kids learn some things the hard way. some times its the best way to teach them. the reason kids don't sit in the front seat is because the airbags can kill someone who's too small to sit in the front. i think some things should be made out of good 'ol wood 'n metal, such as playgrounds, but drumb proofing has saved many lives and therefore is a good thing. things like this whole lysol anti-bacteria spray is stupid, these kids are going to have weak immune systems because they haven' developed antibodies against stuff so it's going to put strain on the healthcare system. anyways rant over.

i think they were right to give her a fine, there's no reason to leave your children in the car, bring them with you into the store, it's unsafe to leave them in because of all previously mentioned reasons. even if the ac was keeping them cool they could have died