how to turn on the heat???

It will always say AC Auto unless you turn it off. It is really mis-named as it really means Temperature Auto. If you turn the temperature up, the heater will kick in automatically once the car warms up. This does not take long.

 

A/C means Air Conditioning. Air conditioning includes heating as well as cooling. In the U.S. we typically use the term just for cooling, but this is technically incorrect.

Your options for climate control are adjusting the temperature setpoint, enabling the cooling compressor (also confusingly labeled A/C), and selecting auto or manual control. All you have to do for heat is raise the temperature setpoint, either via the MFD or the Temp buttons on the steering wheel.

Tom

 

Just leave the A/C on, select Auto, and adjust the temperature to your liking.

You only need to turn off the A/C compressor if you open the windows, unless you want to cool the great outdoors.

Without the A/C compressor, the temperature setting acts like a fan speed control. The lower you set the temperature, the faster the vent fan.

Tom

 

i tend to leave my Automatic Climate Control (a/c) between 70 and 72. if it's really cold out.. 74 to 76...

that's literally it.. set the temp you wish.. and forget about it. the car takes care of everything (except defrosters.. you have to turn the rear on manually.. and the front one (till you can see through the window... hit defrost again and it will go back to automatic climate control)

 

The perspective on what is cold.... a week ago it was -3 degress F overnight. I wouldn't mind some cold weather.

 

Pay attention to the dash and to the climate display screen to see what the thing is doing. The simplest is to just turn on A/C Auto and set the temperature you want, but you can manually override any or all of it.

 

I got a 2007 Prius about 2 1/2 weeks ago, in the middle of a cold spell here in Los Angeles. It was in the high 40s and 50s all day. Like you, i looked in the manual under 'heater' and didn't find anything. Then, i looked under 'climate.' After all, it's called Climate on the control thing. but there was no 'climate' in the index. I tried looking under air conditioning and voila, there it was.

It probably was my imagination, but it seemed to me that if i left the A/C on, i mean, if the green light was lit next to the touch screen button that says A/C, i could not get the car to warm up. I think this might've been because it was also on Auto instead of Manual. So, if i'm cold and want to get warm, i make sure the green light is not lit where it says A/C.

I also stopped having it on the Auto setting and keep it on Manual because when it was on Auto, it would turn the outside air vent on, whereas I need to have it on Recirc all the time. Where i live, there's smog that you can smell (and worse smog that you can't smell) so i don't want the outside air vent on. If i want outside air, i'll put the windows down. At least that way, it flows in and out of the car. Using the vent in a car, the air from outside ends up stationary inside the cabin.

So, right or wrong, the way i use the Climate system is to have it on manual all the time, and if i'm hot, i put the A/C on, green light lit up, and i turn the temperature to 70 or so, and put the fan on whatever intensity i want. If i'm cold, i turn the A/C off and turn the temperature up to 76 or whatever and turn the fan to the intensity i need. This has been working satisfactorily.

I didn't know that the temperature had anything to do with the fan speed. That's interesting. I'm going to experiment with that.

good luck, and enjoy!

 

Home air conditioning in Australia is normally a reversible heat pump which can be used to heat and cool a home.
Unfortunately Prius doesn't use heat pump technology to heat the interior, only to cool it. Even when heating the climate control is still looking after other things while on AUTO, like humidity.

 

Be alert to the possibility that with recirculate on all the time the duct work used by the AC could accumulate moisture that if not vented and dried could breed mold and bad smells. That was my experience on a vehicle several years ago. I had a hard time ridding the car of the bad smell.
Since then I make sure the air intake is open and allowed to dry out by disabling the compressor towards the end of long uses as well as upon parking for extended time.

 

Always-recirc should be fine if the temp is set low enough to run the compressor and thus keep the air dry. It depends on where the bigger source of humidity is.

 

What is the benefit/difference between air recirculation and the regular air coming from outside? Should you use one over the other?

and what does it mean when the air condition or "AC" button is not turned on but the fan and temperature are set?

 

Recirc will heat up or cool quicker.
Recirc does not introduce stinking diesel smoke into the cab.
Recirc will not demist the windows as well.
Outside air will enter the car and stale air will be pushed out in fresh air mode which is handy if you fart.

If you have fan on manually and AC off the heater responds to the preset temperature if it's cold but the car wont be cooled by the AC if it's hot.

 

I've read mixed things from posts about the AC/Auto mode not affecting gas mileage when it's cold because the compressor is not working to keep the air cool like in the summer. I have been using manual to avoid running the AC, but then after reading that I tried the Auto mode, which of course is more convenient. It seemed to immediately affect my mileage. This of course was just one short trip, but what are other people's experience with this?

 

AUTO AC runs the compressor only when cooling is called for, not all the time. In winter the system will start and run the engine to supply more heat if called for, whether AUTO AC is on or off (that is, in auto or manual). That additional running of the engine also reduces MPGs. Is it really worth worrying about either of these?

 

You can use the Recirculate along with the A/C Auto. Simply press the A/C auto button followed by the Recirculate button. Then use the arrows to set your temperature. I frequently keep it at 70 degrees with A/C auto Recirculate.