heater needs to be set to 80+ for heat after AC repair

An AC creates cooling... It's 80 degrees in most of Oregon today and You're concerned about the heater (which is an entirely separate system) not working? Clearly you're a dishonest robot plotting to spam us in future posts. Or have I misunderstood and you have a reasonable logical explanation?

 

You're heater hoses to firewall should be quite warm three min after start up if this is case system making heat just fine. You not getting it on to cabin is another issue . Deal with later .

 

First, I would check for any codes from the HVAC system. You can do that without a scan tool, if you scroll down to "Codes from the heat/air conditioning system" on this page:

Blink (a/k/a Flash) Codes – How to. | PriusChat

Next, I would watch A/C system live values using a scan tool, paying particular attention to what it thinks the interior cabin temperature is. It will only heat when your temperature setting is above what it thinks is the cabin temperature (unless you go to a temperature setting of H᠎I, which heats unconditionally).

The cabin temperature reading comes from a sensor roughly above the driver's right knee.

Edit: the PriusChat software doesn't think we should ever say H᠎I to each other, so it 'fixed' my "temperature setting of H᠎I" above in a way that didn't make any sense.

 

Yes and as I've mentioned before that sensor above your knee it's a lil grille in plastic . That thing will fill up with General schite and dust and pet dander . Whether you own a pet or not so blow that thing out with air .