AC starts but no cold air blow out when engine is off

[crispswish]

My AC generally works great! However I realized that when I turn my engine off and leave the AC on, no more cold air will blow out (only warm air). Is this normal? I have set the temperature to the coldest (or the blue range). My AC works fine when I'm driving. Thank you very much.

[Mavrick14]

AC does not work with the car off.

[shorod]

As Mavrick mentioned, the A/C only dehumidifies the air when the engine is running. The A/C compressor which is critical to the process is driven by the accessory drive belt. So when you turn off the engine, the accessory drive belt stops turning, the A/C compressor stops turning, he pressures of the refrigerant starts to equalize and the cooling effect is drastically reduced in a hurry. This is completely normal for your standard automobile A/C system.

-Rod

[crispswish]

Cool! I must have been dreaming when I remembered the AC worked when the engine is off. Maybe they should add this function to the future cars. I'm glad that is normal. Thank you very much everyone!

[vgames33]

I think some newer hybrids with electric AC compressors can do that. Not positive though.

[tomj76]

>Maybe they should add this function to the future cars.

If they did, the battery (which is the only other available source of energy needed to run the A/C) would be drained in a short time unless it was a hybrid. If it was a hybrid, then the larger battery could run the A/C a while longer, but it would eventually die too.

[shawcross]

to my understanding from my mechanic the ac blower would be in process of sucking the ac from the condensor in to the cockpit of the car

[Mavrick14]

shawcross it sounds like your not sure what your talking about. Your blower motor blows air accross your evaporator (which is cold) and through your vents.

Your AC would blow cold with the car off until your evap warmed up, which would be a minute or two on a hot day.