Thinking of Becoming a Mechanic? 3 Ways a Car's Climate Control Differs From Air Conditioning

Apart from a handful of weeks with perfect weather, drivers often struggle to maintain a comfortable temperature in their cars. Often, they’ll turn to blasting the heat in winter, cranking the AC in summer, or suffering through whatever weather there is in hopes of getting better fuel economy.
Fortunately, newer cars are starting to come with a better approach. Climate control technology offers a compelling solution to the problem of keeping car temperatures at the right level, making it easier to maintain a good temperature all year round.
Here’s a look at some of the ways climate control has a leg up on air conditioning and heating.

1. Students in Mechanic Training Schools: You Can Set Climate Control & Forget It

Air conditioning isn’t especially advanced technology. You feel warm, you turn a dial on the car’s console, and cool air shoots out of vents to make you more comfortable. But finding the right temperature is a balancing act, and often involves a lot of adjustments to try and get to a point where you’re not cooking, but also not freezing in mid-July.
With climate control, you can set a temperature once, and then never touch it again. Drivers just need to enter their desired cabin temperature, and the car will automatically make cooling and heating adjustments to reach and maintain that temperature.
Climate control comes standard in some cars, and is an upgrade option in others. After becoming a mechanic, odds are quite good that you’ll see climate control more and more frequently as time goes on.

2. Climate Control Makes it Easier to Keep Different Occupants at Different Temperatures

If you’re used to driving with other passengers, you’re probably also used to someone being too hot or too cold in the car. Vents get set to odd angles, compromises are made, and, in the end, someone is usually stuck in discomfort for the rest of the ride.
With climate control, it’s often possible to set different temperatures for the driver’s and front passenger’s seats. In more expensive models, it’s even sometimes possible to set the back seat to its own temperature. Graduates of automotive training programs who go on to work in sales would do well to bring this capability up when describing models to buyers—this technology could be a big selling point for families.

3. Students in Mechanic Training Schools Might Know That Climate Control Can Save Fuel

Gasoline prices are unstable, to say the least, and the modern car buyer is a bit more eco-conscious than those of yesteryear. For those reasons, climate control technology could be a big plus for some drivers.
Unlike air conditioning and heating, which both just continue to shoot out air until they are stopped, climate control will only engage temperature-altering equipment if it needs to. Once the correct temperature is established, it will shut off or reduce the strength of the air conditioning or heating. This can lead to decent energy savings over time. If, during your automotive career, you have customers looking to get improved fuel economy with their next vehicle, consider suggesting a climate control system to help them achieve their goal.
Climate control solves many problems with traditional car cooling and heating, including maintaining the right temperature, keeping different people satisfied with the temperature, and reducing energy costs. For those reasons, expect to see the technology pop up in more and more cars as your career goes on.
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