Economy button ?

[Steve-L]

What exactly does the "economy button" on the heating system do ?

In my Seat LCR the economy button simply stopped the compressor working so the air circulating in the car could never be cooler than the outside air temperature.

It also automatically went into economy mode when it was cold outside.

Basically you only needed to turn economy off during the summer when the car needed to be cooler.

 

[icenutter]

Does the same on my B5 A5 according to the manual. They've all probably got the same air conditioning system anyway

 

[enda1]

Steve-L
It like you say. When you turn on ecomony it cuts the power to the clutch on the compressor and stops it spinning.
This disables the aircon circuit and and the system operates like a normal heating system.
With the clutch disengaged the engine doesn't need to drive the aircon system and the load drops on the engine and it doesn't use as much fuel.
The hot air is provided by the heater matrix (uses the engine coolant) and cold air is governed by the outside temp

 

[southpaw66]

I believe (from another forum) it will also disable to auxilary elec heater in the screen demister. Though never tested that myself.