What part of the air conditioner freezes?

[Allan Gibbs]

I was reading some post that a part of the a/c becomes frozen. Which part is that and why?

I would have thought the unit was small enought that outside temperation would prevent freezing (unless the outside temperature was also freezing).

Is it a big issue on the Elise?

PS: I live in Phoenix so for 6 months of the year, A/C is an issue.

[Prolene]

The evaporator coils are where the ice formed to prevent adequate air passage and thus air cooling. The problem it seems from previous posts was that of improper solenoid cycling. The compressor functioned continuously or too often, never giving the evaporative coils a chance to shed water of condensation, instead freezing that water. Fix has been done.

Air conditioning basic.

[TimMullen]

Originally posted by Allan Gibbs
IWhat part of the air conditioner freezes?

The cold part...

Sorry, I couldn't resist. The evaporator portion located in the heating/cooling ducts. It apparently gets too cold, causing moisture to freeze on fins, which in turn blocks the air flow, which in turn causes more moisture to freeze. Air conditioners cycle on and off to prevent this, and apparently, the Elise's system doesn't sense it properly.

They are supposed to be coming up with a fix for it...

[zvezdah1]

That's how it was explained at LOG by Dave Simkin of Lotus.

The recommended SHORT TERM solution was to cycle the a/c on/off manually and don't run the a/c at max cold (knob turned all the way left). I did this and it alleviate the situation to a good degree. AGAIN< THIS WAS SUGGESTED AS A SHORT TERM SOLUTION UNTIL LOTUS HAD THE VIN RANGE PEGGED OF WHAT CARS WERE AFFECTED> it was understood this could be fixed under warranty at some point after that, perhaps during a regular service.

Chris

[Randy Chase]

As explained to me by an A/C technician, it first really stems from having a small unit

My house is the same way. On hotter days (like when I would want to use the A/C?)... it will freeze up and then barely blow. It is because the unit doesn't cycle enough, it runs continously which causes it to freeze the condensation which are on the cold coils. A larger unit would mean it would cool the house in less time and then cycle off.

The relationship to the car is... I don't think the unit should freeze up even if run continuously for 15 minutes, when its still not that cold inside the car. The compensation for this is to have the unit cycle on and off enough to keep it from freezing, but that may mean a loss in performance. As I was told by Lotus... don't turn it down so cold.

[sandsmuseum]

I know there is a technical service bulletin about how the problem with freezing condensor coils is fixed. Unfortunately I subscribed to the LCU tech site and down loaded my manual before the air conditioning bulletin was published.

My air conditioning is now freezing up and I want to move the sensor. Has anyone done this fix or have pictures of the proper location. I will add pages to my website and give you credit if you can provide the necessary information and pictures.

thanks,

Michael

[khamai]

The bulletin & photos are on the GGLC website in the Tech section under "Elise". www.gglotus.org

Kiyoshi
GGLC webguy

[DesignIt]

kahami, Thanks for the link! Unfortunately, my one-day old Elise has the infamous freeze problem. I thought Lotus had fixed that...

John