Fluid Dripping from Area Rear of Engine

by john clemence Sat May 28, 2022 6:15 pm

I have just returned from a few weeks in France and noticed a drip from under the vehicle, (2016 Peageot based Broadway), just to rear of engine. I have come to the conclusion that it is something to do with the air conditioning as it doesn't happen when switched off. The fluid appears to be water as there is no oil mark after drying. All resevoir levels seem ok. The weather was extremely hot when this happened and I was wondering if this is normal or perhaps a problem with the air con, it seems to be working ok.
Has anyone noticed a similar issue.
Regards,
John.

by Roopert Sat May 28, 2022 6:21 pm

It's normal for aircon systems to produce condensated water during operation whenever there is high humidity. Every vehicle aircon that I've seen has had a drain tube or tubes to allow this to drain from the heat exchanger (the part that gets cold, usually under the dash).

by IanH Sat May 28, 2022 7:27 pm

Apart from cooling, or, indeed, heating, air conditioning also dries the cabin air. The water is dumped overboard as you have found.
For that reason alone I never switch air conditioning off. (drying I mean!)

by john clemence Sat May 28, 2022 10:53 pm

Thanks Roopert and IanH,
That all sounds re-assuring, I thought it might not be something to worry about but as I had never noticed it before I thought I would run it past fellow Autosleeper owners.
Sounds like a good tip to keep the air con on - I had heard that the seals could dry out and leak if not used for extended periods.
Thanks again,
John.

by Caraman Sun May 29, 2022 8:45 am

Having the aircon on increases fuel consumption if that bothers you.

by Paulmold Sun May 29, 2022 9:12 am

I also never turn air con off. If you do then run it at least once a week to keep seals lubricated and the condenser working , you don't want to know the cost of a new one.

by john clemence Sun May 29, 2022 10:07 am

Good point, probably best to have air con on most of summer and just for a short while during winter.
Thanks again for all the responses.
John

by Caraman Sun May 29, 2022 10:58 am

john clemence wrote:Good point, probably best to have air con on most of summer and just for a short while during winter.
Thanks again for all the responses.
John

I don't leave mine on all the time because its not needed and is wasteful but I do ensure it gets periodic use if only for a few minutes. The only times it is needed are when the fresh air vents are not able to cool the cab sufficiently and when the inside is damp which can happen at any time of year. Unlike my car(s), I find driving the Peugeot with the door window open to be quite pleasant at least at lower speeds. I doubt this makes any significant difference to the aerodynamics and therefore MPG. I haven't tried it, but there is also the option of opening a skylight slightly to improve airflow.

by IanH Sun May 29, 2022 11:52 am

Caraman wrote:Having the aircon on increases fuel consumption if that bothers you.

Well, sort of.

On several past vehicles with air con I have, as always kept a very accurate record of fuel consumption.
All of this has been with air con on as I never switch it off.
However I tried an experiment and switched it off for 1000 or so miles on two previous vehicles.
Absolutely no difference to the fuel consumption in real terms, perhaps .1 or .2 of an mpg.

In the old days with early medieval systems that was definitely the case, no longer IMHO!

by Caraman Sun May 29, 2022 12:29 pm

I can't dispute the figures but this is what the RAC and other motoring organisations say - Tip 7

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by IanH Sun May 29, 2022 3:28 pm

OK we could argue this for years!
Here's how I see it.
Running the aircon all the time is much better for it than being switched occasionally....IMHO
Running the aircon all the time keeps the car and its contents, fabrics, carpets etc etc dry, that alone is worth the perceived cost. IMHO
Without wishing to be rude, or offensive in any way, I simply can't understand this concern for motorhome fuel consumption. You have a 2nd or in many cases 3rd vehicle (2 cars and a motorhome) Willing to bet the most expensive in most cases is the motorhome. It's worth circa £30k +/- a lot. It does, if lucky 3000 to 5000 miles a year. At, and I'm being kind as I've never done better than 28Mpg, say 30mpg that comes to 166 galls (I know we use litres now!) per year If that was 35mpg (mine would have to be on a trailer to get that!) that's 143 galls. so lets do 25mpg. 200 galls.
So the difference between 25 and 35 mpg is 57 galls per year. That's 253lts circa £455 per year and these are the max and min figures.
This for a 3.5 tonne vehicle worth circa £30000 doing a whole 3000 to 5000 miles per year!
Why worry, it's an expensive hobby as we all know my figure is an absolute maximum of extremes, difference between air con on or off, is more likely to be 2% so that's 3.3 galls or 15ltr = £26 per year!!!!!!!!!!!

To offer an example we did a 17 day Canaries cruise in January, with Saga, came to near enough £6000 for the 2 of us. This may explain why I can't get excited re fuel consumption!!! up!

by Roopert Sun May 29, 2022 5:04 pm

The point about drying the contents of the van is not quite as clear-cut as it may seem. Aircon only dries the incoming air if three conditions (input air temp, heat exchanger temp and air humidity) are correct for condensation to form in the heat exchanger. If input air temp or humidity is low then you don't condense any water in the heat exchanger and the output air is no drier than the input air.

So... running it all the time has little or no dehumidifying effect at all in cool and/or dry conditions.

The next problem is that if it's very humid outside, you may find that the dehumidifying effect of the aircon is not enough to reduce it below the humidity of the air already in the vehicle - so you have to remember to put the system on "recirculate" or there is no nett beneficial effect!

TBH I can't be bothered with thinking about that, so I just run mine once a month, unless it's very hot - in which case I switch it on purely for the cooling effect. The rest of the time I just crack open the driver's window a bit if I need more airflow in the cab.

by Caraman Mon May 30, 2022 10:11 am

IanH wrote:OK we could argue this for years!
Here's how I see it.
Running the aircon all the time is much better for it than being switched occasionally....IMHO
Running the aircon all the time keeps the car and its contents, fabrics, carpets etc etc dry, that alone is worth the perceived cost. IMHO
Without wishing to be rude, or offensive in any way, I simply can't understand this concern for motorhome fuel consumption. You have a 2nd or in many cases 3rd vehicle (2 cars and a motorhome) Willing to bet the most expensive in most cases is the motorhome. It's worth circa £30k +/- a lot. It does, if lucky 3000 to 5000 miles a year. At, and I'm being kind as I've never done better than 28Mpg, say 30mpg that comes to 166 galls (I know we use litres now!) per year If that was 35mpg (mine would have to be on a trailer to get that!) that's 143 galls. so lets do 25mpg. 200 galls.
So the difference between 25 and 35 mpg is 57 galls per year. That's 253lts circa £455 per year and these are the max and min figures.
This for a 3.5 tonne vehicle worth circa £30000 doing a whole 3000 to 5000 miles per year!
Why worry, it's an expensive hobby as we all know my figure is an absolute maximum of extremes, difference between air con on or off, is more likely to be 2% so that's 3.3 galls or 15ltr = £26 per year!!!!!!!!!!!

To offer an example we did a 17 day Canaries cruise in January, with Saga, came to near enough £6000 for the 2 of us. This may explain why I can't get excited re fuel consumption!!!

The aircon only runs when the engine is running so if it is switched on all the time it is constantly going on and off as the engine goes on and off. This won't happen if the aircon is switched off which could prolong its life although I have no evidence of this.

This isn't just about money - at least it isn't for me. It's about waste saving. Even if I won the lottery and therefore had limitless funds, I wouldn't have the aircon on all the time. The saving in waste maybe small but when it is added to all the other waste saving measures, it becomes significant. Waste saving is a way of life which we should all be practicing.

by glyne lock Mon May 30, 2022 7:50 pm

Caraman wrote:

The aircon only runs when the engine is running so if it is switched on all the time it is constantly going on and off as the engine goes on and off. This won't happen if the aircon is switched off which could prolong its life although I have no evidence of this. no an aircon not used regular well have more problems then an aircon used regular

by Caraman Tue May 31, 2022 7:08 am

Glyne - my comment was in response to Ian's comment "Running the aircon all the time is much better for it than being switched occasionally....IMHO:

The issue is whether an aircon that is turned on and off every time the engine is turned on and off will last longer than an aircon that is turned on and off less frequently than this i.e. only when it is needed and if it hasn't been run for a while. I don't have evidence to prove it but I suspect it won't last any longer and might even last for less time due to its heavier usage and constantly being turned on and off by the engine.

I think we all agree that it is not good for an aircon not to be used for long periods just as its not good for a motorhome or campervan not to be used for long periods. Anything longer than 3 months I would say is a long period.

by glyne lock Tue May 31, 2022 2:05 pm

Aircon faults
The most common fault I have for repairs is having to remove the old gas into a bottle to clean out the system and refill from my fresh new gas bottle
This is all down to not running the aircon.
Next is
Low on pressure is a small amount of repairs
So even if you did save on fuel when not running an aircon the repair cost is much more so is the reason to run a aircon unit regularly
If you have climate control it’s working on and off all the time and what has the most problems a climate control unit or aircon YES it the aircon I do most of the repairs to

by Roopert Tue May 31, 2022 4:01 pm

Glyne - Caraman has tried to explain that his point is not about whether to run the aircon or not.

His point is about whether to run it all the time or not.

You don't need to run the aircon all the time to stop it from having problems. As already said, I run the aircon on my T5 every month or so - I have owned the van from new for nearly 9 years, and it still works just fine.

by glyne lock Tue May 31, 2022 4:35 pm

Hi Roopert wrote:Glyne - Caraman has tried to explain that his point is not about whether to run the aircon or not.

His point is about whether to run it all the time or not.

You don't need to run the aircon all the time to stop it from having problems. As already said, I run the aircon on my T5 every month or so - I have owned the van from new for nearly 9 years, and it still works just fine.

Roopert
I said to run it regularly so if you are going to make comments get them correct
Yes I do understand what caraman was saying but I don’t read books about aircon units to make comments here I do lots of repairs and will say what I want to correct people .
How often you want to run your aircon is up to you
So I will say again if you run it regularly you will have less problems

by Roopert Tue May 31, 2022 5:39 pm

Yes mate - that's what I said. I run my aircon regularly. It's what Caraman said. He runs his aircon regularly.

by Caraman Tue May 31, 2022 7:32 pm

I think we are all in violent agreement that the cab aircon needs to be run regularly! The question is how regularly. It doesn't mean all the time. I read on one website 10 minutes every two weeks. This seems excessive to me and it won't work for most of us. We try and use our motorhome every month, including during the winter, so if we haven't used the aircon during a trip, running it for about 10 minutes at the end of the trip is probably a good thing, as you can never be quite sure when the van is going go be used next. The same presumably would apply if a habitation aircon is fitted, which of course requires an EHU. We don't have a habitation aircon. Running the aircon every 3 months is the minimum, which coincides with the maximum period A-S recommend a motorhome should be in storage.

by Roopert Tue May 31, 2022 9:15 pm

The essential thing is to run it long enough to distribute the oil around the system, so that it lubricates the compressor and all of the seals - of which there are typically quite a few, as each pipe joint has one. Every system (of the type we get in vans) has oil injected into it along with the refrigerant.

As you say, I've also seen it said that anything less than 10 minutes may not be effective enough, so I try to aim for 20 mins or more if possible, but I doubt that it's too critical. Given the aim of distributing oil, I don't see why it would need to be done more frequently than monthly - the oil is inside a sealed system so it doesn't seem that it could dry out on the seals anything other than quite slowly?

Fluid Dripping from Area Rear of Engine

Fluid Dripping from Area Rear of Engine

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