Vent control cheat sheet ?

[Tori]

Is there a quick and easy guide our HVAC controls ? A kind of "cheat sheet" if you will ?

Thinking maybe something with pictures would be handy.

Something for all HEAT, all COLD, or just fresh air.

I think i have it figured out, but then i'm not totally confident that i do. I'll be sending my girl on a 2 hour drive in the car in a couple weeks, and having a chart or something less confusing than the owners manual would be great.

Seems like such a silly question, but man,.....what a system. I bet the Apollo launches took less movements. LOL

[pete3799]

[Otter74]

For older and non-Autoheat cars, you can refer just to the section of the above dimage that illustrates the HVAC control levers on the dash. If the car has, or originally had, AC it will have the separate graphics for fresh air fan speed and fresh air amount, but will only have one slider. If it never had AC, it will have two sliders, one for fan speed and one for fresh air volume.

The levers next to the handbrake control hot air volume, left and right sides. Down is closed, up is open.

[Tori]

While the image above is helpful, I guess what i'm looking for is something that shows something to this effect

AC- do this: Top left slider full left
Top right slider full left - (don't know if that's correct)
Middle slider ?
Bottom slider ?
Red knobs down

Heat: Red knobs up
?
?
and so on.....

[darrin]

Originally Posted by Tori

While the image above is helpful, I guess what i'm looking for is something that shows something to this effect

AC- do this: Top left slider full left
Top right slider full left - (don't know if that's correct)
Middle slider ?
Bottom slider ?
Red knobs down

Heat: Red knobs up
?
?
and so on.....

Tori:

In my experience, it's best to treat ac and heat as two completely independent systems. Since heat (at least on my non-autoheat carrera) and the dashboard controler for heat are only activated when the heater levels surrounding the handbrake are lifted, it might be easier to address heat and ac separately.

AC, make sure left knob (temp) is set to coldest setting, and turn on right knob to engage/adjust speed of ac fan. AC comes out of big dash vents (center and sides) if no airflow through particular dash vents when AC is running, check knob adjacent to vent to assure vent isn't shut off.

Heat -- but more complex -- mainly comes out of defroster vent (top) and heater vents (Below dash) -- heat is initiated by pulling up levers on either side of hand brake, air flow is controlled by both how far levers are pulled up and fan speed selected on rotating knob between levers.

Heat is directed from top to bottom by adjusting the bottom (red) lever on the dashboard. Red lever all the way to the right = heat to top (defrost) vents, red lever to left = heat to bottom (footwell) vents. heat in middle, mixes between these two.

[Tori]

Thanks Darrin for those descriptions. I forgot to add the lower AC controls to my AC description above, but i did already understand that operation.
What i need more clarification on is, where do you put the rest of the controls when the AC is on.
I assume you want the fresh air vent closed (top left slider: Full left) Do you still use the fan speed control at the dash control ? OR just the fan speed on the console.

[darrin]

Originally Posted by Tori

Thanks Darrin for those descriptions. I forgot to add the lower AC controls to my AC description above, but i did already understand that operation.
What i need more clarification on is, where do you put the rest of the controls when the AC is on.
I assume you want the fresh air vent closed (top left slider: Full left) Do you still use the fan speed control at the dash control ? OR just the fan speed on the console.

Yes, fresh air vent should generally be closed when running the AC (though likely not going to make any significant difference) and heat (bigger issue here). The dash fan speed control only brings in fresh air -- I don't find that it serves any real purpose in our cars. Instead, as you indicated above, the ac fan control is the primary means of controlling the level/extent of ac

[Tori]

Cool. I think that answers all my questions. Thanks guys.

[Rawknees'Turbo]

Tori, it looks like you have the controls understood at this point, but just to add to what Darrin wrote, the fresh air intake fan (speed controlled by dash lever) is in no way connected to the car's a/c system; if it is running, and the fresh air intake flappers open, then outside air is being moved into the cabin and creating even more of a load for the a/c to cool (unless the outside air is already cool and free of humidity, buttofcourse ). Even the air path is different (fresh air and a/c air do not share the same ducting).

[Tori]

Thanks R'T I didn't know they had separate ducting either. Crazy system. HA !

[GH85Carrera]

Tori, the 911 is likely unique in many ways, but the heat, AC and fresh air vent system are totally separate unconnected systems. Unlike any other car I know of you can turn on the heater, the ac and the fresh air at the same time. The heater will blow hot, the ac will blow cold and the fresh air will blow outside air into the cabin.

The AC system on my 911 works great and on some trip my wife gets cold. She can just pull the handle up on her side and warm up her side.

This last summer I drove up to Vermont for Porsche Parade. On the morning we left it was 44 degrees. The car looked like a beer can that was taken out of the fridge on a hot summer humid day. It was covered in dew.

I turned on the AC full blast to dry the air but it was 44 degrees out so I cranked up the heat to keep us from freezing. It defogged the car in short order.

Now try to figure out the windshield wiper delay system. The delay timer switch is not on the washer control stalk. Again a separate system.



This is the badge on my 911 that morning. Kinda dewey.

[Tori]

Oh ya, the heater on this thing works great. Just about had us run out within about 4 minutes last nite. The AC works good enough in my area too. Never really been able to put it to the test in 100* stuff.
Great pic btw !

[tdw28210]

Originally Posted by pete3799

Simple as this ^^^^^

GAWD, this only reinforces the validity of my decision to yank both the factory heat and AC from my build. Going with electric aircraft heater, heated windscreen and heated seats. No AC until the electric ones are perfected (soon hopefully).

[HarryD]

Thanks to RWebb, we do have the factory explaination as well :

It goes like this:

"There have been several questions about this recently, so I thought I would post the Official Factory Explanation:

Subject: RE: Heat Control FAQ for Pooschey


Q: I just bought a Pooschey 911 and can't figure out how to make the heater work -- or the fresh air either. Can you help me?

A: Sure, I can help you. The ventilation system requires that you operate 4 levers to make it work. 3 of the levers are on the dash, and the other is between the seats on newer Pooscheys there are 2 levers between the seats).

The top lever on the dash actually does several different things (remember, it is a fiendish German device, just like the rest of the car). Pushing it to the middle opens the dust ports leading to the windshield (see below for operation of fogging machine and oil mist spray device). Pushing it to the right past the middle also activates the rattling noise-maker device. There are three loudness levels to choose from. Pushing the lever all the way to the left is used to jam the cable so unauthorized personnel cannot operate any of the devices above. The lever also enables the automatic heat exchanger signalling device -- when opening it spews rust particles on the windshield, you should replace the heat exchangers. Also, if opening it causes you to immediately turn blue or purple (not just hair, but skin color) and become unconscious, you (or your estate) should definitely replace the heat exchangers.

The second lever from the top controls the lights on the White House Xmas tree. Move it to the middle to turn on the lights, and all the way to the right to fire 4500 Megatons of Nukes at Iraq.

The bottom lever on the dash is used to replace the windshield when it becomes scratched or pitted with rock chips. It also determines how much hot air goes to your feet as opposed to your head. For example, let's say the engine is completely warmed up and the hot air is burning your feet. If it's a cold day, you can flip the lever to the other side and shoot hot air onto the windshield so it cracks and shatters. Then call your insurance company (you do have insurance, don't you?)

The lever between the seats controls the oil mist spray device. When the engine is warmed up, this lever allows you to blow oil mist into the passenger cabin. Using the top dash lever lets you select whether you want the oil mist to coat the inside of the windshield or to just circulate around your feet. On a newer Pooschey, you have 2 levers on the floor between the seats. The left hand lever lets you open the left side vents which are aimed so they burn the feet of the person in the right hand seat, and the right hand lever lets you open the right side vents which are aimed so they burn the feet of the person in the left hand seat. Of course, each lever will also burn just the tops of the feet of the person in the other seat. If you are driving in the rain (or even stopped in the rain after the car has broken down), these levers also let you spray a fog of water vapor on the windshield, so no one can see in or out of the car -- sort of like privacy glass."

[Tori]

HAHA, i've had those very thoughts myself.

[Tori]

Getting back to my car after a 2 year hiatus - had to refresh my memory on these controls. Never got around to printing out something i could keep in the car, and just took the time to write something up using the info from this post. (thanks guys) Thought i'd share it in case anyone else wants something to print up and keep in the car with them.

HVAC
CONTROL OPERATION

AC -
1. Make sure left console knob (temp) is set to coldest setting
2. Turn on right knob to engage/adjust speed of ac fan. AC comes out of big dash vents (center and sides)
3. Make sure fresh air vents are closed (top slider move left)
HEATER
HEAT comes out of defroster vent, and heater vents -- heat is initiated by pulling up levers on either side of hand brake, air flow is controlled by both how far levers are pulled up and fan speed selected on rotating knob between levers.

Heat is directed from top to bottom by adjusting the bottom (red) lever on the dashboard. Red lever all the way to the right = heat to top (defrost) vents, red lever to left = heat to bottom (footwell) vents. heat in middle, mixes between these two.

[proporsche]

this might help??
Ivan

[Tori]

Thanks, that's more extensive than what is in my owners manual. I like how it gives examples too.

[proporsche]

ok cool;-) i should have said ..the pages are from top 1987 2nd from 1985 and 1978 owners manuals..

Ivan

[Gretz]

On my 82 SC, I only have one knob on the top row. Is this normal?