Cooled seats not cooling

[turtleboy]

On my few test drives I have experienced a few non-cooled and I think its cooled feeling. Where I live summers can get to 115+ degrees and cooled seats was a huge plus! The lower section is ok, but the lumbar area after I drove a Porsche, I decided I needed cooled seats. Granted, I dont think they will be as good as a $100k+ car, but I would like to at least they are there.

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[Mako_254]

Experiment Results

Where I live, late summer temps can exceed 100 degrees F and the other day (~80 deg) I thought my seat cooler and seat (back) heater wires got crossed. So after finding and reading this forum, I decided to experiment.

Equipment:
2015 Convertible GT Premium w/ 50th Anniversary Appearance Package
Handheld Cen-Tech Infrared Thermometer

Initial Conditions:
Car parked in carport (and not started) since evening before
Car left in carport for entire test
Car started and convertible top lowered
A/C not started
Seats not occupied
Initial temps taken and then seat coolers started (all 3 bars lit)

Method:
Average temperature across each seat panel recorded.

Control:
Front seat temp taken prior to starting seat coolers.
Rear seat temps taken near end of experiment

Results:
See attached image.

Conclusion:
Seat coolers increase seat back tempurature (with convertible top down and with AC off).

 

[SVTFreak]

Would be interesting to see with ac on and top up

 

[comagt]

600 miles on mine and after working great the first day it seems to be spotty ay best. One time I swear the back was getting hotter when the bottom was coooling. The cooling seems to be greatly affected by ambient temp. It is not hooked up to the ac system but if you arent running ac with closed windows then it seems like the system cant keep up with 80 degree or hotter air. Humidity has been a lot higher recently.

 

[Mako_254]

Would be interesting to see with ac on and top up

I agree.

 

[RubyRed15]

Conclusion:
Seat coolers increase seat back tempurature (with convertible top down and with AC off).

Nice work.

 

[bert]

I am very keen on this thread, considering I've experienced the same from the S550's cooled seats in the past few weeks.

One thing I did notice when riding in a friend's $90,000 Mercedes is that his cooled seats are exactly as weak as the S550's Essentially, your inner hamstrings and gluteus might feel cold, but outer and everything in lumbar is regular temperature.

 

[n813ca]

I took my car in the other day because the passenger seat hasn't cooled since the day I bought it. Turned out they installed the wrong seat cushion in the seat!!!!!!

 

[GT Pony]

Thank you. Yes it does. And now I'm starting to wonder if mine isn't working properly in the seat backs. I can feel air moving and hear the fans working in the seat back but it does not get cool/cold. The seat bottom will but the seat back does not. Could you find out if there is a heat exchanger in the seat back as well or if it just blows ambient air. This would keep me from taking it in for service if that is how it is supposed to function. Again, my thanks.

Same exact thing I found out today when I was testing the cooling on my seats. I'd really like to know if there really is an active thermo-electric cooling element (heat exchanger) in the seat back also. If not, then what you and I describe looks to be normal operation.

My observations:
http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showpost.php?p=612602&postcount=38

 

[FeedtheNeed]

So, the weather and opportunity finally agreed and I was able to get some temperature readings. When I have another opportunity, I will be getting temps of the seats without the coolers on.

On a 90 degree day, after sitting outside with 35% tint and a sunshade from 8:00AM to 4:00PM I had about a 30 minute drive home with no passenger.

With climate set to 70 degrees and both seats on high cool (3 lights) for the entire drive I took the temp readings when I got home (again, 30 minutes of AC and seat cooling)

Driver's seat bottom - 88.8 degrees
Driver's seat lumbar - 100.3 degrees
Driver's seat back - 104.1 degrees

Passenger's seat bottom - 82.7 degrees
Passenger's seat lumbar - 101.1 degrees
Passenger's seat back - 103.8 degrees

There is NO reason a cooled seat should be above body temp.

Now considering that it only heats when the seats have had a chance to heat soak, that means the heat exchanger for the lumbar does not work properly. It is obviously intended to be doing something, since you can both hear and feel the fan blowing air.

Also an added note, I took the temp of the center of the rear of the seat back and it was a whopping 118.8 degrees. @FordService is this normal/expected?

Attached are pictures of all except the passenger lumbar, I missed that one. Apologies for the quality, phone was almost dead and had to be plugged in making it difficult.

 

[RubyRed15]

My backs also got hot today. I haven't measured, but it's a fact.

A ridiculous, ridiculous fact.

 

[GT Pony]

Now considering that it only heats when the seats have had a chance to heat soak, that means the heat exchanger for the lumbar does not work properly. It is obviously intended to be doing something, since you can both hear and feel the fan blowing air.

Also an added note, I took the temp of the center of the rear of the seat back and it was a whopping 118.8 degrees. @FordService is this normal/expected?

I'm not quite following the part in red. Are you saying that since the cabin AC is set to 70 and has cooled everything down, and the back of the seats are not measured to be 118 deg, that you've concluded that the heaters in the seat backs are causing the seat backs to be warm? If so, then it almost seems like there is some reverse control logic going on with the system.

And yes, many members have notes that the fans are running in both the bottom and backs of the seats and they can feel some slight air flow through the perforated leather where the fans are physically located in the seats. As I asked in my post, I'm wondering if there really is an active cooling element (thermo-electric)/heat exchanger in the seat back ... or is the fan just there to blow cold cabin air (from the AC being on) through the seat backs?

Lot's of questions still need to be figured out before a real conclusion can be made on this mystery.

 

[FeedtheNeed]

What I meant by that was that when the car has not sat in heat for a while, such as over night/in garage/not a hot day the seats only blow ambient air.

This suggests that there is something within the system that is not in direct view that retains the heat on a hot day and subsequently is what is causing warm air to blow.

If there is supposed to be a heat exchanger for the lumbar portion, it does not work properly. If there is not, then I would like to know how the lumbar portion is intended to be cooled.

As far as the 118 degree spot on the back, it is definitely part of the heat exchanger system (can't have cooling somewhere without generating heat somewhere else). My question is whether that is supposed to be the case since it seems like a potential fire hazard or long term leather damage.

 

[Free Agent]

First thanks to all who have posted up actual temperature readings and done so in a very scientific manner of testing. I had actually thought of doing the same with a laser thermometer myself.

I think its plain to see the lumbar fan doesn't really cool the seat back at all. If I had to guess there is no heat exchanger there and the running fan itself is generating heat and heating up that area. It almost makes me wonder if the upper seat would be cooler if the upper fan wasn't running at all. So evidently the lumbar/upper fan is just there to circulate air through the perforations. That 118 degree reading on the back side of the seat would confirm that indeed the electric fan motor is heating up the seat itself and heat soaking the lumbar area. :(

Again I don't want to take mine in if this appears to be normal operation. If it is indeed normal operation I must say I am disappointed in Ford's design. With the hot dog days of Summer approaching I'm not looking forward to the lesser efficiency of the cooled seats.

As others have stated, I'd love to see an internal diagram/breakout of the seat.

 

[Stangnut]

So, the weather and opportunity finally agreed and I was able to get some temperature readings. When I have another opportunity, I will be getting temps of the seats without the coolers on.

On a 90 degree day, after sitting outside with 35% tint and a sunshade from 8:00AM to 4:00PM I had about a 30 minute drive home with no passenger.

With climate set to 70 degrees and both seats on high cool (3 lights) for the entire drive I took the temp readings when I got home (again, 30 minutes of AC and seat cooling)

Driver's seat bottom - 88.8 degrees
Driver's seat lumbar - 100.3 degrees
Driver's seat back - 104.1 degrees

Passenger's seat bottom - 82.7 degrees
Passenger's seat lumbar - 101.1 degrees
Passenger's seat back - 103.8 degrees

There is NO reason a cooled seat should be above body temp.

Now considering that it only heats when the seats have had a chance to heat soak, that means the heat exchanger for the lumbar does not work properly. It is obviously intended to be doing something, since you can both hear and feel the fan blowing air.

Also an added note, I took the temp of the center of the rear of the seat back and it was a whopping 118.8 degrees. @FordService is this normal/expected?

Attached are pictures of all except the passenger lumbar, I missed that one. Apologies for the quality, phone was almost dead and had to be plugged in making it difficult.

I'd really like to hear Ford's response to this. If the lumbar section really is suppossed to be a part of the "Cooled Seats" feature, this option is a rip-off.

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