Life With The 2002 Climate Control

[Chief]

Now that I've owned my Avalanche for a year and have gone through many of the quirks of Avalanche I've come to an understanding of the Climate Control on the 2002, and I thought I would share.

I think I was like many folks who have voiced some frustration of it being "cold" in the winter and "warm" in the summer - and also of dealing with it running the AC compressor when it made no sense, and not running it when it did.

Well over the months I've come to terms with my climate control and made some general conclusions. If you have climate control look up while sitting in your driver seat. That 3/4" grille in the head liner covers up the temperature sensor for the cab. Now think about this - warm air rises, cold air settles. So if it is sitting in the roof, and on paper in the most noble location for driver comfort of course it will seem "cold" in the winter and "hot" in the summer. Heat rises cold air sinks and my guess is the calibration isn't the best based on location. Hence the "78" setting to get the cab around 70 to 72 in the winter and the "68" setting to get the cabin around 70 to 72 in the summer.

Now take this one step further. This fall I stopped fighting my climate control. Yes, that's right - I embraced when it ran the compressor, and when it didn't. I embraced the few times it went into air recirculation on it's own. To do a defrost I set it manually, as advised in the owners manual.

Guess what - other than concluding to have a warm cab I have to set it to 78 and to have a cool cab I have to set it to 68 the rest just works, and it works well. So my advice to you is if you're struggling with your climate control, and can't understand why the AC compressor is running on a 40 degree day, or off on an 80 degree day - don't fight it - just embrace it and accept it. Darn it for the life of me it sure seems to be doing what it suppose to do once I stopped messing around with it.

 

[RJLACK]

Amen to that - I have come to love mine. My wifes Suburban does not have it and I find I have to play with the controls alot to get it right. I would hazard a guess that the people who designed this thing are better at it than most of us (OK dont everybody get your feathers up) at least I know they are better at it than me. I only work on them to keep them working like their supposed to.

 

[jstrickl]

Chief, you hit the nail right on the head. I leave mine set at 76 (winter) and 68 (summer). Works fine. I also will add that you should NEVER fiddle with vent positions other than when defrost is necessary. I have found that when I am warming up on the morning commute, if I move the vent switch from auto to dash/floor mode, I get nice and warm. However, as soon as I go back to auto, I have to put it back to fresh air and turn the AC back on (if allowed of course) and then the air is not as warm for a couple minutes while the system reconfigures itself.

Jamie

 

[AvaLance]

If you look at the 2003's that have moved this sensor buy the dash bord (at least on the Silverado's)

 

[ShapeShifter]

I had this system on my old Blazer, and loved it. When it came time to get my '02 Av, I just had to have the convenience package because I didn't want to loose those controls. I couldn't bear not having them on my new truck.

One thing I can add to the discussion: don't fiddle with the temperature control. If you are consistantly cold or warm, turn the control just a little (2 to 4 degrees at most) and give it plenty of time to stabilize (at least 15 to 20 minutes) before adjusting it again. If you keep tweaking the temperature up and down, you will keep chasing yourself while the system tries to stabilize.

The other thing to keep in mind is that turning it way to an extreme (either hot or cold) will not make it heat up or cool down faster like it will on the manual controls. Figure out the temperature you want and leave it there!

My only complaint is that it should spend more effort trying to defog windows in the winter time. But I guess in addition to outside temperature, it woud need to know the interior humidity to be able to tell when the windows are fogging up. I guess that's too much to ask.

-- SS

 

[sose]

Does anyone else have a problem with outside fumes coming into the cab through the AC? Even with the recirctuilate setting, i seem to smell too much exhaust while driving around town..

 

[steelheadchaser]

Sose, you should at no time be able to smell exhaust in the cab coming through the A/C. Get in to see the dealer asap!

 

[sose]

Will do.. i am overdue anyways..

 

[fidelfs]

I had the tech explained the ACC to me before my trip to Colorado and after his explanation It makes sense.

Everything you said is true you have to let the ACC set for a few minutes. In my experience 15 minutes is to much when I was at Co. I had to wait just a few minutes (3-5) to get warm air. Outside was at 18 degrees. Remember I am from Houston and I was all bundle up maybe this help me to feel more confortable.

The tech show me a print out from their manual and it says when you want to pass the control you have to select max cold or heat to force cold or hot air in immediatly.

When you have fog in the windows push the AC button to dry out the cabin. This happen very often with all the snow on my boots so I use the ACC for a while and problem solved.

About the fumes I got the same experience but from a previous post I found out it is the chevy way to avoid a liability issue because the mid gate. When the mid gate is open some fumes from your own truck can get in so you need a little fresh air. Even when you have it on circulate.
I made a test one day. When I felt the fumes I clicked the fresh air button and I could feel the difference. With the air circulate there is less fumes than fresh air button.
Allowing some fresh air they (chevy) avoid any legal problem.

That is all based in my experience.

Have Fun!

 

[ShapeShifter]

Everything you said is true you have to let the ACC set for a few minutes. ?In my experience 15 minutes is to much when I was at Co. ?I had to wait just a few minutes (3-5) to get warm air.

Yes, when you change the temperature, you will quickly start to feel warmer or colder air coming out in a minute or two, and you will start feeling better soon. However, it will still take a while for the temperature to stabilize.

If you change the temperature, and don't wait long enough before you change it again, there is a good chance you will end up overshooting the desired temperature. You will then start setting it back down, and if you don't wait long enough, you will end up overshooting again in the wrong direction.

This is what I meant by "chasing the control."

If you are not comfortable, only adjust it 2 to 4 degrees, and give it time to stabilize. In time, you will learn what temperatures feel right for you.

In my case, I leave it straight up at 74 90% of the time. If it's really cold out, I'll bump it up to 78, and if really hot, I'll move it down to 70. It is a real rare case that I move outside of that band.

-- SS

 

[marc_w]

I'm still not a huge fan of it, but it's not as bad as I first thought it was.

My complaint is in the winter. ?It's just not warm enough for me. ?I think it's because my (close to) bald head is in close proximity of the temp sensor above the drivers seat. ?I've been tossing around the idea of relocating it by unplugging that one, and installing another in another location.

I too have been letting the AC run in the winter. I realized the snow from my boots was melting, leaving water on the floor mats, which was probably triggering the AC to come on. (moisture in the air).

The only thing that DRIVES ME CRAZY is that the best mode, the Auto mode, blows warm air to your feet.

I understand that this is to flush out the cold air settling down there - but my feet get so damn hot and sweaty that I took duct tape and partially covered over the vent holes in the duct.

They run front to back, right above where I keep my feet. ?I covered the vent's so that it pretty much only blows on my chins, out of a 3/4"x 1/2" opening. ?Works better for me.

 

[fidelfs]

As it was posted before my wife complains of being cold.

I didn't believe her (don't tell her ) so we switched seats and it is true! The passanger seat some how is a few degrees colder.

Have Fun!

 

[marc_w]

Yeah, my g/f always say's her feet are cold on the passenger side...

With my duct tape mod, she's much happier...

 

[AVid]

Like most of you I set mine at 78 in the winter and 68 in the summer and I am very comfortable. I do have a question for those whose AC comes on at 40. Did you actually look under the hood to see if the compressor clutch is engaged? I read that just because the light is on only means that the compressor is available if needed.

As far as the temp sensor being relocated on the Silverado, not so, I work in the Silverado plant and they are still in the headliner. I see 400 of them a day.

All in all I think the system works pretty well. I only touch it twice a year.

 

[ShapeShifter]

As it was posted before my wife complains of being cold.

I didn't believe her (don't tell her ) so we switched seats and it is true! The passanger seat some how is a few degrees colder.

I think you're onto something there. My wife is forever closing the A/C vents on the passenger side.

And then my son sits in the seat and opens them...

I do have a question for those whose AC comes on at 40. ?Did you actually look under the hood to see if the compressor clutch is engaged? I read that just because the light is on only means that the compressor is available if needed.

I think you are right there. I believe that the light means that the climate control thinks that having the A/C on would help control humidity (especially when defrosting the windows.)

"Turning on" the A/C is only one part. There is a thermostat on the A/C evaporator (the "cold" coil in the passenger air stream) that will prevent the coil from freezing. It will cycle the compressor on and off in order to maintain it's preset temperature (probably around 40 degrees.)

So the compressor may not be running at that precise moment, but it's safe to say that it is on. It's just like a central or window A/C unit at home: it's "on," but the compressor will still cycle on and off as needed.

-- SS