Climate and Volume controls on Superliners

[ScottR]

I know this is a question that must have been asked and answered…but I’m not so good at searching here.

Q.1…does the hot cold knob for air conditioning actually do anything? It doesn’t seem so. In general, I’ve found the temp quite comfortable in my roomette travels, both winter and summer, with the only real adjust being to shut or open the damper at the top.


Q.2…does the volume control have any effect? I was told it used to play various music selections, but that was discontinued. Recently I read it works so that if you don’t want to hear the announcements you can put it to zero, but that doesn’t seem to work either.

I’m not complaining, I’m genuinely curious…seems two knobs that used to do something back in the old days?

 

[zephyr17]

1. The "hot and cold knob" does not affect the air conditioning and never did, even when it works. It controls the electric baseboard heater and only the baseboard heater. The air conditioning/HVAC is controlled using the vent louvers on the vent above the door (in roomettes). My experience with the heater knob is many of them don't work. Some do. This goes well with the vent louvers, many of which are jammed.

2. The volume controls generally do work in my experience, but does nothing to mute announcements from speakers in the hall. It only affects the speaker in the room. Best thing if you don't want to hear the announcements is close the door, turn the volume to zero, and set it on a dead channel (most of them are). You will still probably hear at bit from the hall. They did use to have music on the different channels very early on.

 

[desertflyer]

1 - I've never found the temp nob to have an impact on cooling, but it definitely seems to turn some heat on near the window. So it's useful if you get cold easily. Otherwise I'd turn it down all the way.

2 - Some of the refurbished Superliners don't have volume nobs in the rooms at all. You can't turn the speaker off in that case. In other rooms, I've always found the volume nob to work. I usually turn it off since I can generally hear the announcements in the hallway even with my door closed.

 

[bratkinson]

In my opinion, the temperature controls are more like decorations than functional. But if you wait long enough...4-6 HOURS...the room will be about the temperature you want. And the airflow/vent control in the ceiling, sort of works. I carry gaffers tape and some thin cardboard like a cereal box and tape it over most of the time. Know that the attendant sets the desired 'level' of heating or cooling for the car downstairs. I suspect that the room temperature controls can stray from that setting not more than 5 degrees either way.

And the volume knob? If I'm lucky, it works. I've been in enough roomettes through the years to be strongly considering packing a few tools to unscrew the speaker and disconnect the wire. The worst 'speaker' trip ever was on #8 SEA-CHI. The lounge car attendant felt duty bound to 'advertise' over the PA at least twice per hour including shortly after most stops, and she'd rattle off 10-15 items she had available. Throw in the conductors' routine announcents (rules, actually...must wear shoes, etc) and dining car 'calls' for meals..2-3 times for each seating. Even taking out my hearing aids can't sufficiently quiet the too-repetitive announcements.