How reliable is Air Conditioning in Bedroom cars

[Bob]

We are taking AMTRAk from Seattle to Chicago and then on to NYC. We have a bedroom on both trains. Here is the question? I have a health issue with heat. Above about 78F I can feel unwell and above 85F I can get really sick. How reliable are the AC units on these cars. Forecasts show in the highs in the high 80's for most of the trip. Thanks.

 

[TinCan782]

For the trips I have been on, AC in my bedroom has not been a problem. In my experience, reliable.

That said, all it takes is that one occurrence.

 

[norfolkwesternhenry]

Usually it's fine, it just takes a little while, as well as if the train loses power, the air con goes out, but that is unlikely. I don't like hot weather, my preference is about 62 farenheiht, and if you get too hot, sleep in the lounge car, it should be plenty cool during the night

 

[Seaboard92]

Which trains are you on. One recommendation I can say is to sleep on the bottom bunk. On Viewliners I tend to not have good air circulation in the top bunk.

 

[pennyk]

I have traveled in bedrooms on Viewliners and have been warm, when the roomettes were cold. I am in a Viewliner roomette right now and am very comfortable temperature wise. I would rather be too cold than too warm. I believe that inconsistent may be a good term to describe the temperature in the rooms.

 

[MikefromCrete]

You can only tolerate a seven degree difference in temperatures? Might be best to fly and get the trip over in a couple of hours, rather than spend a day or two on a long distance train where just about anything can happen.

 

[KmH]

We are taking AMTRAk from Seattle to Chicago and then on to NYC. We have a bedroom on both trains. Here is the question? I have a health issue with heat. Above about 78F I can feel unwell and above 85F I can get really sick. How reliable are the AC units on these cars. Forecasts show in the highs in the high 80's for most of the trip. Thanks.

When? This summer, fall, some time next year?

 

[Ana]

Be warned that the temperature for the car is set by the SCA; on a recent trip a cabal of older gentlemen traveling separately but united in purpose convinced the SCA to turn the heat on, despite it being late August and already hot. My traveling alarm clock/thermometer put the temperature at 81F, and I don't think I could have survived without a 10" portable fan. The thermostats in the bedrooms/roomettes are decorative only.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Sounds like everyone over 75 should only be allowed to ride LD Trains in the Winter when heat is required!

( brings to mind the Pullman Scene from the Movie "Some Like it Hot!)

 

[Seaboard92]

I've never had the issue of too warm or too cold. I didn't know the sca had access to the master thermostat.

 

[Ryan]

The thermostats in the bedrooms/roomettes are decorative only.

No they're not. They work the electric heaters in the vent near the window.

You can make your room as arbitrarily hot as you would like (as long as the heaters are enabled). You cannot cool it any more than the air coming from the vent allows.

Anybody not wanting extra heat in their rooms could have spun the "nonfunctioning" thermostat to the fully cool setting and not gotten any.

 

[Hal]

Be warned that the temperature for the car is set by the SCA; on a recent trip a cabal of older gentlemen traveling separately but united in purpose convinced the SCA to turn the heat on, despite it being late August and already hot. My traveling alarm clock/thermometer put the temperature at 81F, and I don't think I could have survived without a 10" portable fan. The thermostats in the bedrooms/roomettes are decorative only.

The SCA didn't turn the heat on in August. The only reason it would get to 81 is if the AC was not working or off. I suspect it was not working, not turned off because I don't believe anyone including older gentlemen would want it to be 81.

If you have any temperature comfort issues that are not resolved by the SCA talk to the conductor.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[dlagrua]

We have not had much luck getting efficient A/C in the bedrooms in the past couple of years. At best the room temperature was tolerable but certainly not cool. The equipment is getting old and worn and Amtrak needs to step up the maintenance effort.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

I've not had problem with AC, in fact "if the lever to close AC vents" is broken I often have to make some type of "cover" over the vents to stopped the cold air flow. Yes, I am cold natured and have found AC to be too cold on most of my trips in Spring and Summer.

 

[zephyr17]

My worst problem was with a wall heater that was stuck on full blast and the roomette was like being in the inside of a toaster. It was unbearable. It also turned out that the wall heat in the H room did not work at all. The person in the H room had moved to another car because of that and the SCA gave me the choice of moving to the H room with extra blankets (it was on the Empire Builder in December), or staying inside the toaster. I went with the extra blankets in the H room.

The problem with wall heater heating uncontrollably was only affecting rooms 1 & 2, the rest of the car was apparently okay (except for the H room, of course).

The wall control works in some rooms, doesn't work in others and, as has been pointed out, only controls the wall, floor heater and does nothing to control cooling. I always turn it completely down as a matter of course.

I've ridden many cars with HVAC issues, usually insufficient/non-existent cooling, but probably about 80% of the time things are fine, and it was completely unbearable only the one time. I don't mind too cold, but I do mind too hot.

 

[amamba]

I've had problems with sweltering sleepers.

 

[bretton88]

More often than not, I've had hot sleepers, especially in superliners.

 

[Lonestar648]

Generally, I have had few issues with the room temperature, On the Superliner I Sleepers, I have had issues with the louvers staying open so I carry a screw driver long enough to pry them open so I can get the maximum air flow. I recently traveled on 5 different sleepers, all Superliners, none had any issues with the room temperature. Last year, we had a SCA that messed with the AC controls only to blow a breaker that could only be accessed when the train was stopped for a while. We had to wait until the train reached a service stop, so the temperature got uncomfortable. most hung out in the SSL.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

Generally, I have had few issues with the room temperature, On the Superliner I Sleepers, I have had issues with the louvers staying open so I carry a screw driver long enough to pry them open so I can get the maximum air flow. I recently traveled on 5 different sleepers, all Superliners, none had any issues with the room temperature. Last year, we had a SCA that messed with the AC controls only to blow a breaker that could only be accessed when the train was stopped for a while. We had to wait until the train reached a service stop, so the temperature got uncomfortable. most hung out in the SSL.

So you are the one who damages the vent louvers so that they cannot be closed by those of us "cold natured" folks who want to close and block the air from circulating or blowing on me.

 

[Sauve850]

Viewliner bedrooms for me anyway have been shaky at best on staying cool. Last couple years have been ok though. Superliner bedrooms seem to freeze me. I carry duct tape and try to slow down the a/c. Makes it nice for sleeping but I ask for an extra blanket.

 

[unitedstatesfan]

Northbound in August 2016 on train 14 ("Coast Starlight') I was in roomette number three and did not have any problems at all.

The bedding was nice and warm: the car temperature was about 22 degrees Celsius which is comfortable for me and hopefully most.

 

[PVD]

71.6 degrees F over here

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Any updates? I would like to travel in a Superliner bedroom but I need it much cooler than the original poster. My ideal is 69-70F. More than 72F is too hot for me.

 

[Qapla]

I take it you don't live in Florida

 

[Siegmund]

My experience is that while the Superliner heating control dial works, it works very slowly: it is often 75+ when I board in winter (it seems to always be very hot in the hallways, and the room doors are open if they are empty) and sometime perhaps 4 hours later my room is cool enough that I move the temperature dial back toward the middle instead of pointing it to Cold.

It certainly ISN'T like turning down the thermostat causes cold air to blast out of an air conditioner specific to your room.