Air Conditioning?

since the railroad stopped buying parts for the Comet I's a few years ago

Is that becuase Comet I parts are no longer made?

even the NJT Comet III and IV are electronicly controlled when you look tru the return airvent on A end you see the L.E.D.s for the computer interface.

And our newest white elephants, the Comet5s, are already notorious freon leakers

I doubt they have freon. Freon was banned befort the cars went into service. It would be the freon replacement they use now. Which in and of itself is not as efficient a coolant.

the Comet V units are self contained lift out units, interchangeble with spares in short time. the coolant used is R-134, the Bio replacement for R-12.
I believe the units are same as used on Acela.

Mark Schweber wrote:

And our newest white elephants, the Comet5s, are already notorious freon leakers

I doubt they have freon. Freon was banned befort the cars went into service. It would be the freon replacement they use now. Which in and of itself is not as efficient a coolant.

There are many types of freon. R12 freon production was banned by the Montreal Protocol in the early nineties. It was replaced by R134a freon for non-hermetic applications like autos and coaches. And it is this freon that is leaking from many Comet5s.

The Comet V's are still using R22 freon which is still legal to produce until I think the year 2010.

R134a is the R12 replacement that is found in your automobiles.

The Comet V HVAC system is as someone mentioned is a drop in unit. They are shipped to us complete from Faivley and all we do is drop the assembly in place, hook them up, and turn them on. The system is computer controlled and as someone pointed out about all the crew can do is turn it on and off.

When it comes to riding a train coach or a bus, I would rather it be too cold than too hot.

I agree, it is always better to be too cold.

I can't see how the A/C system on the Comet Vs is the same as the one on the Acela Express. The Acela air is freezing and feels nice.

ABCD wrote:The Comet V's are still using R22 freon which is still legal to produce until I think the year 2010.

Why did the Comet5s revert to R22 when the Comet4s use R134a which seems to work great? And were these roof mounted units really a good idea? It seems like they bear the brunt of the 27kv EMF on the Hoboken Division.

Why did the Comet5s revert to R22 when the Comet4s use R134a which seems to work great? And were these roof mounted units really a good idea? It seems like they bear the brunt of the 27kv EMF on the Hoboken Division.

I think R22 is in fact better, it has been around forever and used in most all household appliances and air conditioning.

As for why they are roof top units, that was NJT's decision. I read on here awhile back an article from your newspaper where Walter Cross (a NJT Honcho) said they wanted the A/C set up this way for interchangability.

ABCD wrote: I read on here awhile back an article from your newspaper where Walter Cross (a NJT Honcho) said they wanted the A/C set up this way for interchangability.

Not my newspaper!! I don't propagate NJ Transit's dogma!! I work for a living!!

Interchangeability?!? With what? Other CometVs?

On a standard older car the AC is broken till car can be physically fixed in shop.
With the C5's a car can be brought in shop, the bad unit lifted out and good unit put in and in half hour be out the door with exchange unit in place.
With the C5 earning its keep while shop forces are fixing the spare AC unit, with both systems having about 80% of full load, even the shut down of one system does keep a car at least torerable.

Thats all good in concept, but the cars never get to shop to get the 1/2 hour swap out to being with! NJT runs the cars into the ground adn only fixes them or sends them to the shop when they REALLY don't work, which is pretty much when there is a problem with the brakes or lights!

DutchRailnut wrote:On a standard older car the AC is broken till car can be physically fixed in shop.
With the C5's a car can be brought in shop, the bad unit lifted out and good unit put in and in half hour be out the door with exchange unit in place.
With the C5 earning its keep while shop forces are fixing the spare AC unit, with both systems having about 80% of full load, even the shut down of one system does keep a car at least torerable.

Wow! You don't work for NJ Transit, do you? Coffee breaks take 1/2 an hour at the MMC and that's about it. Even the slightest "repairs" take days, even weeks.

So ALMOST knew these HVAC units were so lousy they figured they'd better allow easy changeouts?!? How thoughtful.

thebigc wrote:So ALMOST knew these HVAC units were so lousy they figured they'd better allow easy changeouts?!? How thoughtful.

Hey BigC, is that a joke or have you become dislexic? If that's a joke, it's pretty funny! (No offence ABCD.)