Can Air Conditioning be switched off by the driver when the train gets too cold?

[Ballyheigue]

Yesterday, I boarded a class 185 at Thronaby going to Leeds in the evening and the air conditioning was on full blast. It wasn't too bad at first, but as the train got past York it began to feel really cold inside, the sun had well and truly gone in by then with rain threatening. When it got to Leeds, as is usual with Leeds, it rained heavily. The train was freezing by then, I felt sorry for any wet passengers boarding at Leeds expecting to dry off in comfort lol, I think the conductor should have worked out the train was way too cold for comfort and informed the driver by then.

 

[swr444]

Yesterday, I boarded a class 185 at Thronaby going to Leeds in the evening and the air conditioning was on full blast. It wasn't too bad at first, but as the train got past York it began to feel really cold inside, the sun had well and truly gone in by then with rain threatening. When it got to Leeds, as is usual with Leeds, it rained heavily. The train was freezing by then, I felt sorry for any wet passengers boarding at Leeds expecting to dry off in comfort lol, I think the conductor should have worked out the train was way too cold for comfort and informed the driver by then.

The AC on Desiros can only be altered by technicians at the depot.

 

[cats_five]

The AC on Desiros can only be altered by technicians at the depot.

But doesn't it have a thermostat to control if it's on or off?

 

[swr444]

But doesn't it have a thermostat to control if it's on or off?

Only for the cab AC

 

[ainsworth74]

But doesn't it have a thermostat to control if it's on or off?

Yes but on many trains that can only be changed on the depot. Though I think on some stock the guard can reset the system as it can occasionally get confused. I remember being on a Voyager on a hot summer day where the HVAC was pouring out heat in the carriage and we were all slowly melting, the guard came into the carriage looked stunned at the heat, strode to an equipment cabinet in the vestibule and a few seconds later beautiful cold air came pouring out of the vents but I don't think they were fiddling with the temperature settings just resetting the system.

 

[Russel]

Yes but on many trains that can only be changed on the depot. Though I think on some stock the guard can reset the system as it can occasionally get confused. I remember being on a Voyager on a hot summer day where the HVAC was pouring out heat in the carriage and we were all slowly melting, the guard came into the carriage looked stunned at the heat, strode to an equipment cabinet in the vestibule and a few seconds later beautiful cold air came pouring out of the vents but I don't think they were fiddling with the temperature settings just resetting the system.

I was on a packed Voyager on Friday night and all that came out of the HVAC vents was buckets loads of water which I can't actually say I've ever seen happen on a Voyager before.

 

[Towers]

Worth noting that many modern AC systems use ‘blending’, whereby cold air is still pumped out and, hopefully, mixed with warmer air - an early morning journey in December on a Desiro where only the ‘cold’ bit was functioning demonstrated that the system isn’t infallible!

 

[driver9000]

Saloon HVAC is usually set to around 22° all year round and the crew have no control over it as it is an automatic system. On the 185 there is an emergency shut down function but that is only really to be used to avoid smoke being drawn into the train for example and not as a routine. Occasionally it will develop faults but the only the thing the crew can realistically do is report it to the maintenance controller who will log it for attention.