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Cabin Heat in Cold Weather

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by spleuchan, Jan 21, 2012.

  1. spleuchan

    spleuchan Junior Member

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    I see a similar post from about 6 years ago in the Gen II forum, but I was wondering if anyone else was experiencing problems with their heat in cold weather. Even if I put the temperature down to 65, it blasts out extremely hot air if I put it on vent. It feels like the car is 75+. If I put it on feet warmer, it feels ok. I actually think I prefer the dial where i can fine tune my own temperature than trying to let my prius do it for me. I don't have the automatic button on, which maybe I should try, but I dislike it in the summer because it blows way too strong with it on.
     
  2. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Senior Member

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    I use the Auto feature pretty much all the time. If I need defrost I push the defrost button, in summer I push the A/C button. If the weather is nice and I don't need anything I push Off which still allows air flow when the car is moving.

    Try Auto it's smart enough to control itself in most conditions.
     
  3. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    I've found in auto mode, it's best to not have the vents pointing at you in either hot or cold situations; exceptions for extremes of course (100+ f in the summer, etc).
     
  4. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    Extremely hot is not term I would use to describe the heat that comes out of my vents. I leave mine at 68 in auto mode. If my windows start to fog, I press Mode and the defrost/feet is engaged but the fan is still in auto. Works 96.7% of the time and if comfortable.
     
  5. Much More Better

    Much More Better Active Member

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    When in Auto, doesn't the fan rev up to 5 or 6 bars in the early parts of your drive? I think the computer is trying to heat/cool the car to your desired temp quickly. I don't use Auto for this reason, which is ironic, because I was so looking forward to having Auto Climate Control when I bought this car.
     
  6. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

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    ^ In auto and ECO, the fan starts at one bar and stays there for like 5-8 mins then slowly creeps up as the ICE temp increases.
     
  7. Much More Better

    Much More Better Active Member

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    i'll try that combo Spidey, thanks.
     
  8. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    Yea, the only time the fan jumps right up is when you hit the windshield defroster button when you first start the car.
     
  9. SpikeVFR

    SpikeVFR New Member

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    I use the auto feature, it only blows super strong till it gets the cabin temp to where you want it, then it slows down. If it is a real problem, try adjust the temp in increments. So if the car is 85, and you want it at 70, but it is blowing too hard for you, put it at say 80 or whatever gets the fan running on medium, once the fan slows down to one of the low settings, put it at say 75, and so on. Or point the vents away from you more (you didn't say if it was the noise or the air that bothered you). When you put it on vent, are you keeping the A/C on? It easy to turn off the A/C when you take it off auto.

    And it is always going to blow out hot air at first if the outside is hot, the air in the vents and the vents themselves are hot and some of the early cool air will be "used up" cooling off those parts, then remember how hot your interior is, all your interior takes a long time to cool off your whole interior - think like seat cushion foam.

     
  10. spleuchan

    spleuchan Junior Member

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    Sorry if I wasn't clear. My problem is in the winter when it is cold outside, it blows out extremely hot air even when I choose I only want the inside to be 65. I only mentioned the summer because I got my prius in late spring and got annoyed with the auto mode because the fan speed was all the way up right after I turn on the car (I heard someone mention this doesn't happen in ECO mode, but I dislike ECO mode, so I don't use that).
     
  11. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Ok given the two things you said (extremely hot air and max fan speed), my impression is that you're not familiar with how the auto climate control works.

    Its job is to heat/cool the cabin as quickly as possible, to reach the desired preset temperature and then hold it there. Therefore, the car will essentially go max heat/cool to begin and then slowly letting up as the cabin reaches the desired temperature.
     
  12. spleuchan

    spleuchan Junior Member

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    I am familiar enough with auto mode that I know I dislike it and don't use it. My hot air problem is with auto off.
     
  13. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    If Auto is off, then you have complete control of everything that is controllable with the climate control system. There isn't much that any of us can do to help you, other than suggest that you change your settings to find something better suited to what you like.

    Tom
     
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  14. spleuchan

    spleuchan Junior Member

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    I kind of suspected there was nothing that can be done. I think my posting was more of a rant. Although, I did want to find out if there was something wrong with my Prius, or if that was the way it was designed. As I mentioned, it seems ok when it is on the floor setting (vs. vent) and most people probably choose this when it is cold outside. I'm probably one of the few who prefer vent, so others might not experience this.
     
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  15. Much More Better

    Much More Better Active Member

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    So here is my morning drive in Auto climate mode, normal driving mode: 20-25min, all city driving under 37mph, -9C outside. In my garage, it was probably 3C.

    For first 3min, there was no fan, presumably because the engine is warming out. I started out at 20C (68F). In the summer, the fan ramps up right away. This observation makes sense to me.

    Then the fan slowly ramps up 5 bars for the up to about 10min. The noise is what I find objectionable. Flipping the car to ECO mode slows it down to 2 or 3 bars but at expense of throttle response. So I set temp down to 18C (64F) and then the last 10min it fades to 2 bars.

    In the past, I just leave it at 20C at 2 bars, Auto off. I don't find that ambient temp fluctuates that much or that I need to reach 68F in the cabin quickly. Whether the cabin is 64 or 68, my body doesn't notice so I don't need precision control. Which makes me think of dual-zone climate control and how superfluous it might be.
     
  16. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Alright then I think I see where you're coming from. It was just above freezing today and I decided to tilt the moonroof up. I took the climate control out of AUTO, and put the MODE to vent. I do recall the hot air coming out but because I kept the fan speed at low, it was fine. but I kept it near 70. Have you tried one step above LO? Does it still blow extremely hot air?
     
  17. spleuchan

    spleuchan Junior Member

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    Yes, I put it at 66 and it still blows out hot air. It takes about 10 minutes to feel it as very hot. It seems that the colder it is outside the hotter it blows. I tried auto this morning and it worked fine because auto sets it to the floor instead of vent. I also keep my prius in the garage, so I don't know if this affects it.
     
  18. macman408

    macman408 Electron Guidance Counselor

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    The real question is if in the summer, it still blows hot air with the temperature set to 66 and A/C on. If it does, then you probably have a faulty interior temperature sensor. If not, then presumably everything is working just fine; it's just blowing hot air because the air temperature (at least near the sensor) is less than 66°.
     
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  19. spleuchan

    spleuchan Junior Member

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    No problems in summer.