Badwater Forum

We've always run the A/C and never had any problem. (3 trips, I think most people do)

Umm, yeah, definitely run the AC.  There will definitely be points in the morning/late evening as well as on the way up hills/higher elevation where the temperature will cool significantly and you can just leave the windows open to let air in.  My only precaution to you is to keep an eye of the temperature gauge of the car.  Every car is different, although we used a new, rental van last year.  If you want to worry about something, worry about overheating the breaks while you park/stop on those long climbs.

Just a few thoughts.....

Jonathan
http://www.seegundyrun.com

I agree with everyone to run the A/C and with Jonathan to eyeball the gauges.  One thing I learned while crewing Jesper Olsen in 2005 is to run the car with A/C in "neutral" rather than "park" as the car is less likely to overheat; however, this advice is not practical for BW as it's not safe along much of the route due to extreme elevation changes.  I crewed Olsen through pancake-flat Smalltown, USA, with some exception, as there were long stretches of rolling hills through portions of Route 30 into PA - in fact, there were very steep grades once we hit PA), so placing the car in neutral wasn't a concern. 
(My vehicle overheated twice on very hot/humid days with the car in park and A/C on and once I began putting it in neutral, it never overheated again).

I know Bill's son and wife added some water to the radiator last year to one of the crewing vehicles (Randy and I had no problems with our vehicle and we ran the A/C during crewing stops) but if they hadn't eyeballed the gauges to know to take corrective measures, it might have overheated, so just use caution.

Happy Trails,

Connie Karras
2006 Crew/pacer - Bill LaDieu, 54:50
2007 First Solo Attempt...

quote author=gundy80 link=topic=176.msg586#msg586 date=1180115540]
Umm, yeah, definitely run the AC.  There will definitely be points in the morning/late evening as well as on the way up hills/higher elevation where the temperature will cool significantly and you can just leave the windows open to let air in.  My only precaution to you is to keep an eye of the temperature gauge of the car.  Every car is different, although we used a new, rental van last year.  If you want to worry about something, worry about overheating the breaks while you park/stop on those long climbs.

Just a few thoughts.....

Jonathan
http://www.seegundyrun.com

I haven't heard of any problem with vans and A/C, but we rented a subcompact car for errands/crew shuttle, and it had a hard time with the hills and A/C. It definitely couldn't do both at once, and generally sounded like the engine was straining a lot. A car one size larger on a subsequent trip did much better.

That was basically our experience last year, grrlpup.

We had a mini-van (no problems) and Bill's son's private vehicle, which needed some water added, was not a mini-van but a compact.

Happy Trails,

Connie Karras
2006 Crew/pacer, Bill LaDieu - 54:50
2007 First Solo Attempt...

grrlpup lwrote:
I haven't heard of any problem with vans and A/C, but we rented a subcompact car for errands/crew shuttle, and it had a hard time with the hills and A/C. It definitely couldn't do both at once, and generally sounded like the engine was straining a lot. A car one size larger on a subsequent trip did much better.

Connie,

2004 and 2005 with air conditioning in mini-van and Tahoe and never had a problem.

Just read about your solo and wanted to say thanks for supporting the ADA.  As a Type 1 of 26 years and an ultramarathoner, I love the fact that you are doing what your doing.

Good Luck,
John Moore

Air conditioning in the desert is like taking sand to the beach. Not useful until it is behind you. If I get in and out of a cold air conditioned car all day, the heat feels hotter each time I get out. There are times I drive for work 140 mile a day, with 15 stops. I think the continued heat feels better then cold lungs, hot lungs all day. I have heard tht the change in temperature can lead to moisture collecting in the air sacks of the lungs. My crew never runs the A/C until we are in the ( training done mode) ready to stop running.
This is the method we use on every training run we have done in Death Valley we could be wrong but it works for me. Greg

Johnny,

You have no idea what it means to me to hear words like these from someone with diabetes who understands what it's like to live with the disease.  It's going to be a thing of the past, I can feel it. 

Twenty-six years it's been a part of your life?  What an honor it would be to meet you and know you.  I've been blessed with excellent health all my life, unlike so many near and dear to my heart throughout my life, and while it seems there is no rhyme and reason to why some are healthy and why some are not, this I know:  we're all in this together and can triumph over this and all diseases.

Thank you for who you are.  I will be thinking of you, among many others, during my solo and will add you to the list of names on my shirt.  I hope our paths cross in the future

Happy Trails,

Connie Karras
2006 Crew/pacer, Bill LaDieu  - 54:50
2007 First Solo Attempt...

http://www.active.com/donate/connieshotrun
http://www.run100forcharity.info

johnnyvail26 wrote:

Connie,

2004 and 2005 with air conditioning in mini-van and Tahoe and never had a problem.

Just read about your solo and wanted to say thanks for supporting the ADA.  As a Type 1 of 26 years and an ultramarathoner, I love the fact that you are doing what your doing.

Good Luck,
John Moore

Yeah, I do agree that there is no problem in running the van air conditioning. It is more comfortable to do that than to open windows and feel the warm air. There is less trouble than if the break will overheat.