water dripping from under bonnet

[knpenny]

Hi i just noticed after driving with the aircon on for a while, when i stop, i have water dripping from the air intake for the heater matrix. It seems to be coming directly from a small tube at the bottom of it.
In post (epic service) i recently added the ac gas had been recharged as i live in france now, and its quite hot already, i think this is normal as that area may be for refrigerant to pass into and its essentially ice melting. The problem is i am scottish and ac is very rarely used where i come from so i just dont have enough experience on this type of system to know if this is normal
The coolant is fine and the washer bottle aint leaking, its deffinately just water (have tasted it) yes taste)
Also doesnt drip water when ac has been off and just running cool air from heater.
i'm almost 100% that this is normal

Can anyone re-assure me if this is normal behavior with air con, or am i in the poo
Thanks in advance

[teenmal]

Can you confirm that the tube is not the drain tube for the gutter below windscreen.

[WestyK]

I Don't know about the Bongo specifically but all the cars I have had with Air-con do this to some extent.
The Car I have now seems to make an alarmingly large pool of water once stopped when the air-con has been used on a hot day.

Its just a bi product if how they work. Cooling the air causes it to condense on the cold part of the system that cools the air which i think, funnily enough, is called a condenser. This then has to drain off somewhere.

Cheers
Ian

[Bob]

As above, I think this is just normal.

[knpenny]

Yes definitely not the gutter for the windscreen and its not rained foe a few weeks now, it also wasn't raining on our trip this weekend, it seems to be a drain on the box where the hp ac pipe goes into, it was quite alarming i'll be honest thanks for the re-assurance all and the helpful experience you have.

[mikeonb4c]

I had the same fear a couple of weeks back. I was used to seeing condensate dripping from behind the drivers door. But never in 12 years had i noticed it between the front wheels. I even got the tesco garage to fill my water container in case my low coolant alarm went off during the long drive ahead. I phoned my Bongo specialist mechanic Adrian and he said it was probably just condensate from the front unit. 3 weeks later all is ok

[teenmal]

Can you confirm that the tube is not the drain tube for the gutter below windscreen.

If that is not the tube can you tell where/what the tube is connected too.

Take care

[knpenny]

looking from under the bonnet behind the air intake for the heating system there is a black box attached directly to the central part of the body leading into the center of the dash board, the black box is located between the air intake at the very front of the vehicle and the heater matrix behind the dash, i can only assume that with the hp ac pipe leading into that area it will have something to create cold air flow at that point.
At the bottom of that black box is the pipe/tube about 3cm long max (non flexible) a part of the box itself, above wherethe hp ac pipe goes, thats where the drips were coming from, again only happening when ac has been running.

[g8dhe]

Yes its the humidity in the air, being "dried" out by the cooling system, it will also drip behind the drivers seating position when the rear air con is operating as well.

[knpenny]

cool so to speak, thanks for the responses all

[Markas]

...
The coolant is fine and the washer bottle aint leaking, its deffinately just water (have tasted it) yes taste)

So I'm not the only one do do a taste test on fluid drips then

[mikeonb4c]

...
The coolant is fine and the washer bottle aint leaking, its deffinately just water (have tasted it) yes taste)

So I'm not the only one do do a taste test on fluid drips then

Ha ha yes i tasted what fell on Tescos forecourt and it was good. We're a bunch of campervan diehards, us Bongo lot

[Northern Bongolow]

http://lushprojects.com/bongopartsmk2/c ... mgno=.html

[Markas]

...
The coolant is fine and the washer bottle aint leaking, its deffinately just water (have tasted it) yes taste)

So I'm not the only one do do a taste test on fluid drips then

Ha ha yes i tasted what fell on Tescos forecourt and it was good. We're a bunch of campervan diehards, us Bongo lot

Was that just when your 'bag for life' fell apart & deposited liquid contents on the floor then?