Do you turn on the heat...

"But it saves a lot of gas"

So would a bicycle!

Yep, you are among those certified crazy.

 

I agree that it is probably going to be warmer and drier inside the car, so heat is just another luxury.

I will usually turn the auto A/C on if I feel cold but It rains so much here I HAVE to turn it on if I want to keep the windows from fogging up.

 

we don't need no stinkin' heat!

it never gets that cold down south. well it does, if you're native to the south, but if you're from up north you don't use the heat unless you're transporting a southerner in the passenger seat.

but i'm also the type that gets all sorts of crazy looks when i'm walking around in a sweatshirt in february and everyone else has heavy coats on.

 

Around here it doesn't get real cold, but it gets real damp in the winter. If I didn't use the heater, my car would start to support mold and mildew, it's that damp. But then, it doesn't affect my gas mileage that much because it isn't that cold in the first place.

-Roger

 

the heat does not affect the mileage that much but defrost is a gas guzzling luxury. i constantly flip the defrost on and off because cant see without a little of it. i even have one of those moisture collectors that go in RV's sitting in my backseat. i get about two inches of water in it every few days.

 

We don't have our Prius yet, but...

In my current vehicle, I typically use the heat or A/C when our young child is with me and the weather indicates a need. Not nearly as much if, by chance, I am driving solo. But...it does not get all that cold here in sunny San Diego. Hardly at all during daytime hours and that is when I usually have our child with me.

I doubt my A/C and heat usage is going to change much with the Prius despite any fuel savings. Keeping a young child comfortable is far more important for my sanity and her health.

 

I have to dress warmyl for work anyways, so I run the heat on 65 degrees and the next-to-lowest fan setting most of the time. If it were above freezing here (been near zero for weeks) I would leave the heat off and wear a t-shirt.

 

I never turn the heat on unless the temperature falls below 40. It's so dry and sunny here in the Rocky Mountains that it only feels cold when it gets well below 40. When I have had to use the heat for a few short days, I took a major mileage hit. Ouch!!

 

well that is the reason why i rarely run heat... 65º is a bit too warm for me most of the time. i wish we could go down to at least 60º F

 

Heat. I don't need heat... but then I live in Western Washington not the upper peninsula of Michigan. I can afford to be some what cavalier about temperature. Defog is the killer here.

 

Dave, the air dryer seems like a good idea I've never thought to put one in a car.

I know Defroster is the killer here but I find that if I turn on the defroster for a few seconds and then leave it on A/C auto will keep things from fogging up and it is much more gas mileage friendly.

 

Here I live in California and leave my climate control between 72-78 degrees depending on my mood. Not really trying to squeeze every bit of milage I can, but instead just use the car for transportation.

 

i use the moisture remover

1) cheap...holder was $6, bag of little white pebbles...1.49 each. used about 3-4 bags during wet season and we have a loooong wet season.

2)rear window collects moisture rather easily and i never use rear defogger unless there is ice (very rare). with the dessicant, i wipe off window about once a week. last winter, was every day and still seemed wet all the time. was really paranoid about possible mildew. the Prius is so air tight i rarely use fresh air circulation...(i contribute little to the smog, so i dont feel i have to breathe any more than i have to.)

plus i do feel that i use the defroster a little less than before.

 

I didn't get the Prius to wear a $30,000 hair shirt. Hell, with the house at 67, the car was one of the few places one could crank the heat and not feel guilty about it. Now that is gone too? I don't think so. I'll leave the trophy chasing to others. Tonight's weather has been wet, windy and raw. I had to walk about a half-mile in it. When I got in the car, I wanted to warm up. I'm pleased to say that I could do that (heat set to 74, and display screen defrost on) and still get 43.7 mpg on the way home.

 

hey... i know that weather...seems to only be that way when im parked in the far lot at work

 

Gawd I wish we would get something like that just once in a while. I really miss those slow drizzily days with temps hovering in the mid 30's. That's what happens when you live somewhere where there are about 300 days of sunshine a year (and before here I lived in Tucson). I'm not kidding.

Seriously though, why is the rear defrost problemactic? Is it that big of a drain on the HV?

 

Once the ICE is warmed-up, using the heater takes very little extra energy . . . you are mostly using waste heat before the radiator has a chance to dissipate it. Of course, the amount of waste heat available is dependent on outside temperatures and the amount of time the ICE is running. If there isn't enough waste heat the ICE may run longer to provide that heat. And yes, you are using extra energy for the blower motor - but if that is a big concern to you, you should also consider turning off the stereo and MDF screen.

One trick which works for me: (Mind you, I live in an area of California with mild “Mediterranean†weather – this is not Olympia with its liquid sunshine, or a place where the ground freezes . . . ever.)

I don't particularly care to be blown-upon by the AC system, so what I do is turn the temperature up to “MAX HOTâ€, turn the recirculating to “outside air†and then turn the AC system off.

More than enough warm air leaks out of the AC system to keep me comfortable.

I can then listen to the stereo guilt free.

 

I use it all the time to dry off the heated side mirrors. I don't notice any significant power drain.