Heated air from the vent with fan off

When you turn it off, if the recirculate button is letting airflow through, it will still push air through at whatever temperature you turned it off at.

 

This always annoys me. I never remember to turn the temp down when I arrive at work in the morning, so I'm blasted with hot air in the afternoon.

 

due to the Ram effect of air hitting the front of your car and then going through the heater ducting and heater matrix it will then enter the car at whatever temp it was set at before turning it off, to prevent this you could try the setting recirc to interior (not recommended for long periods of time) position, turn the heater on and change the temp to the desired position, adjust the heater before turning it off, or change the position of where the air comes through the vents i.e. not straight at your face, hope this helps

 

You say the AC was off but was the climate control (AUTO button) turned on? If not, I am surprised the the air coming through the dash vents would be any hotter than the outside air. Just so there's no confusion, the temperature control in the C is not just for AC. It's for heat as well.

Was the outside temp at the time less than 28C? If it was, and the climate control was on, then the car would attempt to make up the difference, producing heat. If the climate control system was off, then I would not expect the car to produce heat, although I could be wrong. If it does, I would definitely set the temperature to less than 28C, which is very warm. You will certainly get more use of the ICE trying to heat the car. Cooling will use much less, as the AC is totally electric, running off the battery rather than the ICE, and only needs the ICE to recharge the battery if your AC use outpaces your coasting and braking. If you drive in ECO mode, it should help that in most circumstances.

 

It won't produce heat, but it will allow engine heat to compensate if the previous temperature setting was higher than outside air.

 

So even with the climate control system off, the car will attempt to match the temperature set on the dial? Adding heat if the outside temp is lower than the setting? I assume it will not turn on the AC if it is set at a lower temperature than the outside, but just close off the flow of hot water to let it cool as much as possible. Then the OPs problem was his very high setting of 28C. He just needs to dial it down to 20-21 or so.

 

It won't turn anything on, but it will regulate the amount of engine heat to attempt to compensate, both higher temp or lower temp.

 

no the heater will not "kick in" as you put it, merely the air passing through the heater system with be therefore "heated" to whatever temp it was previously set at, I suggest you change the vent direction to feet then you wont notice it

 

All gas vehicle have fresh airflow through the HVAC system. It was enacted by the DOT to prevent exhaust (carbon monoxide) fumes from building up inside the passenger compartment. Whatever temp it's set at when shut off, it will remain at that temp until changed with the system on. It's an inherent issue with Automatic Climate Control.
Vehicles without this type of system have a manual temp lever you can slide to change the temp settings without turning on the system. Just remember to turn it down before you turn it off. It's normal for it to operate this way.

 

I wish I didn't have to turn the fan on in order to adjust the temperature.

 

All automatic climate control systems are this way. It's a true PITA