Bongo Fury

I am in two minds about whether my air conditioning needs a service/recharge before we head off to hotter (hopefully) climes in a couple of weeks.

It's certainly been blowing cooler air than outside which probably means it's fine, but it's nowhere near as icy as the a/c in my old car. I think the book said something about leaving the temp on 18 means the a/c will be on automatically but is 18 degrees really the lowest it will go?

If I think hard, I'll probably have answered my own question by morning, but if you can understand what the question actually was please let me know.

Thanks.

it might need a recharge..... there are folks this way who are recharging for £38 although I do know of a couple of people who have been taken in by the Halfords adverts and have allowed their monkeys to use one of those EZ-Chill aerosols on their cars........... to good effect......

18 is about right for aircon....... I have manual aircon and when I first us it to cool I drop the front windows about 1 inch/ 25mm for a couple of miles to chill the system down .........

also this might help and be worth checking out...............

http://209.85.227.132/translate_c?hl=en ... uDNjNWCgeA........ you will be surprised how dirty and clogged they get

mikexgough wrote:it might need a recharge..... there are folks this way who are recharging for £38 although I do know of a couple of people who have been taken in by the Halfords adverts and have allowed their monkeys to use one of those EZ-Chill aerosols on their cars........... to good effect......

18 is about right for aircon....... I have manual aircon and when I first us it to cool I drop the front windows about 1 inch/ 25mm for a couple of miles to chill the system down .........

also this might help and be worth checking out...............

http://209.85.227.132/translate_c?hl=en ... uDNjNWCgeA........ you will be surprised how dirty and clogged they get

I used one of the Halfords refills to re-do Little Miss Scanner's car - it seems to have done the job OK with enough left over to top another car up as well.

Even after it's used up you can still use the connector hose and gauge to check the pressure in any other car to see if it needs doing.

PS Compass cars in Somersham Rd are down to £34 (inc VAT) for a regas.

I have a similar situation. I've no doubt my aircon is working as I cen feel the temp drop significantly when I put it on. However, it is not capable of really chilling the Bongo on a hot/sunny day. I put this down to (1) the generally inadequate system in the Bongo (its OK but its not stunning by modern standards) and (2) the fact that the Bongo has plenty of glazing and a big internal volume i.e. it is a large greenhouse.

I think this is an interesting thread and it would be helpful to get other peoples views as there's not point spending money regassing if in fact your system is working as well as a Bongo system can. For reference, my Bongo is a 95 model with untinted windows and manual aircon. The aircon was regassed as part of a repair when I bought it 2.5yrs ago.

One other point. In theory, setting the air lever to 'recirculate' should help as you are able to keep cooling the same air. I'm not sure I notice a huge difference in practice, and the blower is much noisier in that mode, which puts me off.

It should blow considerably colder than the outside air, not just cooler. If not, it probably does need re-gassing. 18 is about as low as you can set it - lower than that would leave you feeling very cold on a journey.

francophile1947 wrote:It should blow considerably colder than the outside air, not just cooler. If not, it probably does need re-gassing. 18 is about as low as you can set it - lower than that would leave you feeling very cold on a journey.

Yes it does esp. but that just means that if air outside is hot, air inside is cooler. I think mine is working about the same as when first regassed. I must try and do some temp. probe checks (maybe others might do likewise and we could compare reuslts). Certainly when tested by Kwikfit last summer they reckoned it was behaving like it should so no regassing needed.

I suppose the question to ask everybody is this:

On a day when the air is hot and the sun is out, can you still make your Bongo really cold inside, or do you just manage to keep it less hot?

What else could diminish the aircon efficiency apart from things like needing regassing. Assuming aircon belt is tight enough, can aircon compressor efficiency drop off with age maybe?

Thanks for the replies so far. MikeONB4C you have explained my question better than I did. Before I had the Bongo I had a Fiat Multipla - also with lots of glass - and the longest I could handle having the air con on in there was about 15 minutes and then it was sealskin parka time That really did get cold and as that is the only other vehicle I have ever driven with air con it's the only comparison I can make.

Even with the windows open, I have noticed that in the back of the Bongo it does get quite hot, airless and stuffy, even if the driver's area is reasonably comfortable. When we had seven in the Bongo the other day, I sat at the back and when I eventually swopped with my husband, it was much more pleasant at the front.

So looking forward to more comments and experiences before I part with £35 just to find that the Bongo was actually designed that way!

I have to keep turning the aircon off in my Bongo, because it gets cccccold Your Multipla sounds right. Regardless of the outside temperature, the aircon should blow really cold and people in the front are comfortable. On a sunny day, it can get stuffy/hot in the back.

As franco says it should be able to chill you when set to it's coldest even on hot day. Check with thermometer air coming out of vents, should get down to about 9c or even colder. Mine was only going down to 14c so topped up with diy charge kit, now is about 6c.

To get the Bongo really cool you have to use both units - front and rear.

If the rear one has been removed or hidden away behind a conversion you are never going to get the back really cool - that's why there is a second unit in the back.

scanner wrote:To get the Bongo really cool you have to use both units - front and rear.

If the rear one has been removed or hidden away behind a conversion you are never going to get the back really cool - that's why there is a second unit in the back.

Yup, we did that but I'm asuming it can't give more than its got. But it does sound like Alison and mine's may be underperforming. Thanks splitpin for those figures as we can now test ours against them (is yours an older manual aircon model?)

Mike, mine is newer shape van with manual aircon, not climate control, this must have been optional extra.

splitpin wrote:Mike, mine is newer shape van with manual aircon, not climate control, this must have been optional extra.

Thanks for that splitpin

mikeonb4c wrote: I suppose the question to ask everybody is this:

On a day when the air is hot and the sun is out, can you still make your Bongo really cold inside, or do you just manage to keep it less hot?

I can make my Van quite cold on the hottest day. But to do so effectively, I open the front windows as soon as I am moving to drop the opressive heat, then put both front and back on full cold, then after a couple of minutes, kill the back blower, and turn the front up to about 23C to be comfortable.Cooling the cab whilst the body of the van is still baking is skiing up hill so to speak in my view. My van is unconverted and I have both heaters front and back.

On the reverse, the heater in my Bongo is the best I have ever come across. 32C and its roasting...

Hippotastic wrote:

mikeonb4c wrote: I suppose the question to ask everybody is this:

On a day when the air is hot and the sun is out, can you still make your Bongo really cold inside, or do you just manage to keep it less hot?

I can make my Van quite cold on the hottest day. But to do so effectively, I open the front windows as soon as I am moving to drop the opressive heat, then put both front and back on full cold, then after a couple of minutes, kill the back blower, and turn the front up to about 23C to be comfortable.Cooling the cab whilst the body of the van is still baking is skiing up hill so to speak in my view. My van is unconverted and I have both heaters front and back.

On the reverse, the heater in my Bongo is the best I have ever come across. 32C and its roasting...

Useful tips - I'll try that & thanks