Do you turn on the heat...

Hi Peter,
72-78 degrees (F) is the same temperatures no matter where you live, but “California†on the other hand is a big state with many climates. Your post doesn't make much sense to us since we don't know if you live in a place like nice and warm San Diego, California or butt freezing Truckee, California. Please place your location in your user profile. It may help us answer any questions you may have, or better understand a post.

 

Dave,
What exactly is this???

Why do you use 3-4 bags in a season? Most desiccants can be recharged in the microwave. Just place a 1/4 cup of water in there too to absorb the excess 'trons . . . unless you like sparks and a destroyed microwave.

 

:huh: Do you turn on the heat in your house? You know, you can save a whole lot more gas/electricity/oil/whatever if you don't... <_< Even though the winters here are not as bad as some places, I think driving without heat is a little over the top. (like during the war, when there was gas rationing and people would refuse to totally stop their cars in order to keep from wasting gas!) :huh: (you know: The War, The Big One, WW2 )

 

I use plenty of heat. I just use the can view to tell me when I can use it!

If windows fog or ice up I have to compromise but most days I start with:

Recirc
AC off
Fan on 2nd lowest
defrosters off

Then when engine gets to 160 I turn off recirc, and if still ok I may pick a faster fan speed.

If I stop for a light etc where engine cools, I minimize it with recirc back on.

Also note I start out with a dry warm car from my house powered electric cabin heat.
This keeps me comfortable till the car can supply heat, as well as eliminating most ice scraping.

This works good down to 0 deg F. Defrosters are generally only needed in heavy snow or ice storms, and luckily those days tend to be warm like 30 deg F!

So except in these storms, my mpg in winter remains within 5 mpg of my usual summer mpg.

 

I live in the North Bay...Santa Rosa

 

the kind i use is loose calcium chloride. it dissolves away so only way to retreive would be to evporate water in microwave... i dump it out.

 

no i dont. my average winter bill is about $25. only higher because less daylight means more lights on. i have electric baseboard heat. no gas.

 

I keep the auto control set at 68. I'm from Hawaii and it gets too cold in MD, dammit!

 

This time of year I run the fan set to outside circ in the mornings to defrost the interior windshield. This works in my high desert, very low humidity climate without any AC.

First time ever, I drove down our hill, stopped at the red light, and the Prius would not shut off the engine. It was the fan !! There must be other conditions that were playing into it, but shutting off the fan allowed the Prius to shut off the ICE.

 

Does that mean you heat your house with a wood stove?

 

You can buy this stuff in the marine section of GI joes or similiar.... ti comes with a little plastic holder and it has a little reservoir to hold the water it pulls from the air.

They use it to put in boats during storage to keep moisture down.

 

Do you also turn the heat up to max, or do you find that you don't need to?

this is an interesting concept I'll have to explore.

 

I just leave the thermostat set about 70 in winter. I used to turn it up some but found it wasn't worth the trouble.

 

Don't those Washingtonians get that cheap hydro electricity because of all the rain? Maybe that's the answer.

-Roger

 

<_<

<_< Please, post your location, you may be in Quito, Ecuador for your comments....

 

no, live in apartment complex. so have apartments on two sides. my average temps in house runs 55-60º... i wear my Seahawks Sweatshirt most of the time. its comfortable to me...used to it i guess... btw, also have single pane windows... place is like a hundred years old so having the heat on, it would only be slightly warmer in here anyway.

and ok... electricity is about 6.25/kwh... but its cheaper in the summer.

 

Whoa Dave. I'd have trouble sleeping in those temps without a heavy quilt, nevermind living in them. Are you living solo? There's no way my wife would live in that temp zone.
My guess is the bill is so low because the neighbor's 68 deg. apts. are heating your's. A little plastic and caulking on those windows might help.

fwiw - I think PSE's current costs are 6.8 cents/kw for the first 600kw and 8.5 cents/kw of the remaining.

 

Okay, dumb question here. How do you know the heater (coolant flow) is off? If you shut Auto temperature off, does it just leave the coolant valve in the last position it was set to?

I'm sure you can dial down the temp setting to some obvious setting where it would be off and then turn Auto Temp off.

Does the "OFF" screen button turn off the heat flow or just the fan?

I would think the last thing you would want is the Auto Temp to continually cycle the coolant flow valve to control temperature and induce wear when you really didn't care if you were 72 deg +/- 1 deg.

Someone with a scanner might know this: Does the climate controller report coolant valve opening?

 

actually i do live alone and became aclimated to cool nights with my previous relationship who could not sleep if the room was warmer than 60º which suited me just fine cause she gave off a lot of body heat

 

How about if we enjoy what we have and use it !! We can't take to the grave material things and keep crying about.
Our cold New York evenings leave my car well under 32 and it's quite cold for me, have expend more than 25 yr. in this latitud doesn't give me any trophies so, 5 minuted before leaving to work, I press the remote starter and the front deffoger does the rest to a confy and warmer cabin.
Long live to the built in electric heater!!