Climate control

[JohnDigital]

My DS3 has the digital air conditioning.

This morning when I got in the car and the outside air temp was showing 9 degrees.
I have my air con set to auto at 19.5 degrees. When I set off this morning after about 30 seconds the fans kicked in and started blowing cold air into the car.
I don't understand why this is happening as surely if my cabin temp is set at 19.5 degrees then the fans should not be blowing cold air into the cabin.
Anyone any views/ideas.
Thanks
John

[AJ07]

Maybe you have the recycle air button switched on

[JohnDigital]

Maybe you have the recycle air button switched on

The recycle air button was in the off position.

[DavidDS3]

Could it be the sensor on top of the dash (the triangular bit which will house the hi-fi centre speaker if fitted)? If the sun had been on this for a while (!!) confuse the settings?

[DaveB]

You're not going to get warm air after 30 seconds! The engine needs to warm up before the climate control will supply warm air, whatever you've got it set at.

[cyclone]

Citroen to cheap to program the system to wait until the water is warm before turning on the fan.

[x6411]

Perhaps the air it was blowing in was slightly warmer than the air already in the car?

[JohnDigital]

You're not going to get warm air after 30 seconds! The engine needs to warm up before the climate control will supply warm air, whatever you've got it set at.

I understand I am not going to get warm air as the car is stone cold.
Why does the system not wait until the engine is warmed up before switching the fans on instead of filling my already cold car with more cold air.
Seems to defeat the object of climate control to me.
john

[sted]

diagnostic check to see if they work?. I know my old ibiza did that when i engaged reverse as well turned ac to recycle so it diddnt suck up zaust

[Bigfeet]

What's happen is most likely what DaveDs3 has said. The C/C works from a cabin sensor on the dash and if this has been in the sun it can confuse the system for brief moment, I don't think that there is a problem with your C/C so I wouldn't worry about it. The thing with C/C is that it works kinda like a power shower, first time you switch them on it chucks out cold water for a few moments before the hot comes out.

If you want to test it then there is a simple method, heat the car up to maximum with the Auto C/C and then drop the windows, the system should detect the drop in cabin temperature straight away and fire up like crazy!

[cyclone]

After looking at it, The car does not have a passenger compartment temperature sensor. "the passenger compartment temperature sensor does not exist physically, it is a calculation to estimate the temperature..."

The sensor on the dash is a sunshine sensor that should tell the system exactly that how much sun is shining in to the car. "The role of this sensor is to provide electrical information which is proportional to the heat generated by the sunshine"

[DaveB]

I think there is also a windscreen misting sensor. If the screen starts to mist up air will be directed onto it & the flow increased to clear it quickly.

[JohnDigital]

Gents
Thanks for all your comments and help.
I parked the car overnight and for the morning in the garage to keep the sun off the windscreen.
All worked as it should when I drove out of the garage.
Looks like it must be related to the sun on the temp sensor.
Thanks again
John

[Bigfeet]

Glad to hear that your system is working as it should