Car Heating and Ventilation Systems: Why You Need to Maintain it Well

car's dashboard
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Not Just a Hobby

Owning a car is far more than just a hobby. You need to invest in its maintenance to make sure that it runs smoothly. A car’s heating and ventilation systems are essential components of its functionality. Therefore, you need to pay attention to these systems to prevent your car from breaking down.

Modern cars have been designed to have a constant through-flow of fresh air that will keep the interior atmosphere pleasant despite keeping all the windows closed. The engine is capable of heating the incoming air to prevent the windows from misting. This also helps maintain the chosen temperature inside the car. These features are related to your car’s heating and ventilation systems. To maintain their functionality, you also need to be knowledgeable about cleaning procedures that will not compromise your car’s overall performance.

Car care is not limited to regular engine maintenance, oil checks and proper storage. You need to make sure that the environment and temperature are suitable for any vehicle. Sometimes some car owners scrimp on home heating and vent their dryer into their garage to keep the car warm throughout the winter, but that is a mistake. You may have kept a regular dryer vent cleaning schedule for your home, but venting the hot air into your garage is not helping your car. You need a better method to maintain it in the colder months.

The same goes for the airflow in your car. You also need to invest in cleaning your car’s vents to make sure that you will not encounter problems such as carbon monoxide poisoning and lack of fresh air inside.

Air Flow Inside Your Car

Air enters your car through a large duct that is located at the front of your car. This large duct is intentionally placed here so that air is forced inside your car through a high-pressure area when the car is moving. The air then moves to the heater where it is warmed if required. One other entry point of air is through the grilles on top of the car’s bonnet.

To get air into the interior of your car, it must pass through the front foot-wells and the dashboard’s vents. These vents are adjustable so that you can point them at the front-seat occupants of your car. Some cars have ducts located in the rear-seat area. Keeping the airflow of your car seamless will give you a constant stream of fresh air.

car's aircon system

Your Car’s Heater

Water-cooled cars have a small radiator that takes hot water from the engine through a hose. Incoming air passes through the water-heated matrix which makes the air warm. The temperature of the air inside your car is controlled by an air-blending system or a water valve. The temperature control on your car’s dashboard works a tap that lets in more or less hot air according to your preference.

For air-cooled cars, heating the interior air can be accomplished by ducting the air around the hot exhaust manifold’s fins. This way, the warmed air is mixed to the right temperature using an air-blending system. A heat-sensitive valve is present to keep the temperature steady so that the car’s occupants can enjoy comfortable levels of heat inside the car.

How to Clean Your Car’s Air Vents

Cleaning your car’s air vents is essential because these vents can trap dust and other particles that could blow into your lungs every time you use your car’s air conditioner. If your car’s air ducts are dirty and neglected, you might develop respiratory problems that could compromise your health.

One way to clean your car’s air vents is to spray compressed air into the vents. A can of compressed air is capable of clearing any dirt sticking to your car’s air duct surfaces. You can also use a strong vacuum to suck in loose dirt out of your car’s vents. To do this, you must have a powerful wet or dry vacuum that you need to hold against the vent cover. The vacuum will pull all the filth out carefully.

You can also just wipe your car’s vent slots using any cloth. However, it might be tricky to reach between the vents to clean all the nooks and crannies. You can invest in a vent cleaner or a slotted brush to accomplish this task more efficiently. Changing the air filter will also work. However, to do this, you might need to call in a professional auto detailer to do the work for you. Just remember to be careful about cleaning your car’s vents. You don’t want to end up damaging your car in the process of cleaning it.

Focusing on Efficiency

Before you can make the most out of your car’s functions, you must first be familiar with its maintenance. After all, your car will run smoothly if you take good care of it. Just like how you would invest in the maintenance of your house’s systems, you also need to invest in your car’s maintenance. Therefore, you need to learn more about how to keep your car running efficiently to know if a scheduled cleanup is necessary or not.

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