Cooled seat annoyance

[JExpedition07]

So the bottom half of my cooled seat is not working and it’s starting to tick me off in the summer heat. The seat-back cools right off in a few seconds and the bottom does squat. Lights stay on. The TED blower is working at full speed and pushing cold air like it should but I’m sweating my nuts off. Passenger seat both back and bottom cool off in seconds. I’ve heard of the lower duct can collapse? Has anyone fixed this or have pictures? I’m going to order a new oem Leather seat skin from the seat shop when I do this anyway since I’m guessing you dismantle the bottom. Big question, do I need new seat foam or not? Is the duct repairable? Like i said the actual cooling device is working fine, but for some reason the air isn’t making it out the perforations anymore...

2007 EL Eddie Bauer

 

[mnachreiner86]

So the bottom half of my cooled seat is not working and it’s starting to tick me off in the summer heat. The seat-back cools right off in a few seconds and the bottom does squat. Lights stay on. The TED blower is working at full speed and pushing cold air like it should but I’m sweating my nuts off. Passenger seat both back and bottom cool off in seconds. I’ve heard of the lower duct can collapse? Has anyone fixed this or have pictures? I’m going to order a new oem Leather seat skin from the seat shop when I do this anyway since I’m guessing you dismantle the bottom. Big question, do I need new seat foam or not? Is the duct repairable? Like i said the actual cooling device is working fine, but for some reason the air isn’t making it out the perforations anymore...

2007 EL Eddie Bauer

I’m in the same boat, but with the passenger seat. 08 Navigator. Driver side heated and cooled work fine, passenger side heater will stay on a few minutes and then lights go out and only light up for a second but won’t stay lit when pressing, only after restart will it come back on and do the same thing. Can hear something blowing, but no heat. Cooled seats the lights stay on and the blower runs and doesn’t go off like the heater function but again, no air but can hear it. I’m not sure. If you figure it out or get advice Id love to know. It’s my wife’s seat and she doesn’t seem to care, but it drives me nuts and used to work for awhile after I got it.


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[riphip]

Check under or pull seat to be sure there are no obstructions like plastic bag, etc

 

[Trainmaster]

I replaced the cover and foam in my 2008. The Seat Shop told me I probably didn't have to replace the foam with 95,000 miles but I ordered it from Ford anyway.

It turned out that the original foam was still fine. Ford no longer sells the seat foam without the duct, so I ordered the cooled seat foam although I didn't have cooled seats. This then required I order a duct from Ford, as the foam has a channel cut in it. It was a $140 futile exercise for me (plus the $200 cover), but I got a nice seat. The duct is thin flexible compressible plastic and I suppose it can collapse, especially if the driver is rather robust, but it is surrounded on three sides by the seat foam.

I'm just offering my observations. I would suspect the duct isn't collapsed and that you don't need new foam or a duct unless the seat is visibly flattened like a pancake.

I'd look for other problems.

I believe TheSeatShop runs a 20% off Labor Day sale. You may want to ask about that before you order.

 

[JExpedition07]

Today the cooling worked 100% for the first time in a while. I haven’t even touched anything yet so maybe it’s not a crushed duct and perhaps I should be looking at the bottom peltier device for faulty operation instead. I guess it’s possible the blower fan is on even if the device isn’t pulling heat from the air like it should be after the fan. Or perhaps the duct chokes off depending on my seated position? Doubt it. It was nice to have it back today in the crazy humidity so shout out to the Ford gods for that.

 

[JExpedition07]

Check under or pull seat to be sure there are no obstructions like plastic bag, etc

Didn’t find anything blocking it but there were a few receipts floating around the truck. That was a good idea especially since I’m not running the blower filters, I took them out last year and never ordered the new ones since they are now just plastic grates instead of filters that they sell.

 

[Trainmaster]

Does the 07 have a peltier device? I thought it was just a fan. Without a filter, your seat foam is the filter. It might get caked up with crud eventually. After all, Ford didn't put filters on 'em cause they had some extras lying around.

When you change the seat leather you'll get a look. I doubt that's your problem, but you might want to consider a filter after you fix it.

 

[JExpedition07]

Does the 07 have a peltier device? I thought it was just a fan. Without a filter, your seat foam is the filter. It might get caked up with crud eventually. After all, Ford didn't put filters on 'em cause they had some extras lying around.

When you change the seat leather you'll get a look. I doubt that's your problem, but you might want to consider a filter after you fix it.

I believe it’s a peltier device for 2007 it says A/C seat on the switch

 

[JExpedition07]

Ford no longer sells the OE style filters for this unit last I checked....Ford now sells a plastic grate for it instead with no filter media.

 

[07navi]

Thermoelectric cooling uses the Peltier effect to create a heat flux between the junction of two different types of materials. A Peltier cooler, heater, or thermoelectric heat pump is a solid-state active heat pump which transfers heat from one side of the device to the other, with consumption of electrical energy, depending on the direction of the current. Such an instrument is also called a Peltier device, Peltier heat pump, solid state refrigerator, or thermoelectric cooler (TEC). It can be used either for heating or for cooling,[1] although in practice the main application is cooling. It can also be used as a temperature controller that either heats or cools.[2]

This technology is far less commonly applied to refrigeration than vapor-compression refrigeration is. The primary advantages of a Peltier cooler compared to a vapor-compression refrigerator are its lack of moving parts or circulating liquid, very long life, invulnerability to leaks, small size, and flexible shape. Its main disadvantages are high cost and poor power efficiency. Many researchers and companies are trying to develop Peltier coolers that are cheap and efficient. (See Thermoelectric materials.)

A Peltier cooler can also be used as a thermoelectric generator. When operated as a cooler, a voltage is applied across the device, and as a result, a difference in temperature will build up between the two sides.[3] When operated as a generator, one side of the device is heated to a temperature greater than the other side, and as a result, a difference in voltage will build up between the two sides (the Seebeck effect). However, a well-designed Peltier cooler will be a mediocre thermoelectric generator and vice versa, due to different design and packaging requirements.





Operating principle
CFD analysis package, courtesy of NCI.

Thermoelectric coolers operate by the Peltier effect (which also goes by the more general name thermoelectric effect). The device has two sides, and when a DC electric current flows through the device, it brings heat from one side to the other, so that one side gets cooler while the other gets hotter. The "hot" side is attached to a heat sink so that it remains at ambient temperature, while the cool side goes below room temperature. In some applications, multiple coolers can be cascaded together for lower temperature.

 

[Aspen03]

They're fun to experiment with. You can make a heat powered cell phone charger out of one. Just need a way to create a large temperature differential without destroying the TEC module in the process.

I have a backpacking camp stove from Biolite that uses a TEG to power its fan, a light for cooking and charge the onboard battery pack. I've had it a few years and its seen some rough conditions and still works great. They're resilient little devices. They seldom fail themselves, its virtually always a problem within the controlling circuit whether that is a temperature sensor, lack of flow, etc. If they go out of range temp wise its common to basically just shut down and let the fan bring it down to a safe level.

The IceProbe cooler I used to have on a Pico reef tank was a TEC. It worked for years running 24/7. Only catch was fan and heatsink would need to be periodically cleaned.

Being your problem has come and gone id venture to say the cooler itself is fine. Maybe the ducting like you think has failed? Maybe something in the CCSM? Its an overly complicated system unfortunately. No idea why ford has so much "control" in place. Apply power, it heats or cools, realitively simply.

What kind of outside temps are you dealing with? Peltier struggle to pull down temp of anything more than about 40 degrees below ambient and thats with a sizeable unit. I have no clue what wattage they use though. On the upper 90, high humidity days we had here for awhile this summer I did notice my seat would barely get cool when normally it'll freeze you out.

 

[JExpedition07]

They're fun to experiment with. You can make a heat powered cell phone charger out of one. Just need a way to create a large temperature differential without destroying the TEC module in the process.

I have a backpacking camp stove from Biolite that uses a TEG to power its fan, a light for cooking and charge the onboard battery pack. I've had it a few years and its seen some rough conditions and still works great. They're resilient little devices. They seldom fail themselves, its virtually always a problem within the controlling circuit whether that is a temperature sensor, lack of flow, etc. If they go out of range temp wise its common to basically just shut down and let the fan bring it down to a safe level.

The IceProbe cooler I used to have on a Pico reef tank was a TEC. It worked for years running 24/7. Only catch was fan and heatsink would need to be periodically cleaned.

Being your problem has come and gone id venture to say the cooler itself is fine. Maybe the ducting like you think has failed? Maybe something in the CCSM? Its an overly complicated system unfortunately. No idea why ford has so much "control" in place. Apply power, it heats or cools, realitively simply.

What kind of outside temps are you dealing with? Peltier struggle to pull down temp of anything more than about 40 degrees below ambient and thats with a sizeable unit. I have no clue what wattage they use though. On the upper 90, high humidity days we had here for awhile this summer I did notice my seat would barely get cool when normally it'll freeze you out.

It’s been pretty hot and humid lately, in the cooler weather we got this weekend I could feel the bottom getting colder after a few minutes. The back cools off even on the hottest days. Whether or not it’s worth it to take apart seat I’m deciding at this point. Leather is in good shape but I’d like to figure out what’s up with it at the same time. Collapsed duct seems plausible.

 

[GeezingInVA]

Lots of empathy for the OP. Our 2016's driver's seat cushion has only cooled randomly since the first time I tried it. Sometimes it cools, but most times not. The blower always runs, though, when the dash button is engaged. I've learned to live with it. I always figured there's probably nothing good that can result from a dealer removing a seat for inspection.