Warm air blowing through vents without climate control system on

Well something "similar" will happen with almost every vehicle on the road......but maybe not for the same reasons.

When you turn the "heater" off it is never really off because some heat "leaks" into the system from the engine or where the sun shines on the vent intake or from a damper door that leaks a bit of air.

If you turn the fan on just one notch, it might evacuate that heat out of the ducts in a few seconds and then blow mostly outside air.......might not too.

 

I also typically drive with climate control OFF, I do however make sure that the temp is at the LO settings before doing so, reason:
in my Gen3, during the winter time, i set the air to ~ 73 and turned the climate OFF during my commute (50 miles), the cabin got enough heat through the vents to keep me comfortable and not running the fans, during non-winter, temp was set to the lowest.
While I have not been able to reproduce the exact behavior in my Prime (has not been cold enough to need heat ), I'm for now assuming it works the same way ... do you know what your temp was set to? if it was the previous for AC use, eg 75, at 66 outside it would warm up the cabin ...

 

Actually the climate control system is never really off. In "off" it's actually still in "heat". Even without a fan running, air will circulate on the highway, and it will be heated if your setting is 74 and outside it is 66.

Turn the heat setting down and you won't get warm air coming in, just outside air.

 

Set to low with acc off. Fan setting set the way you want it.

 

I have not observed that ... feels more like outside temp ... but usually i have the windows cracked ...

 

Air is cooled only if "A/C" light is on (well, almost only - it can be cooled if defrost is on too). If you turn that light off the air coming through the system will be at whatever temp. its source is. This being said, the cowl gets warm in the sun, so to begin with you will get warm air until the ducts cool off to ambient (if outside air is being used).

This also confused me a while ago. I thought "system off" meant "off", but it turns out you can't turn off the heat with a switch. You have to set the temp. low enough heat isn't called for. Think of it as a legacy car where you have to turn a knob counterclockwise to mechanically block the coolant from the heater core (from my experience with my FJ Cruiser). So it's a good thing you can adjust the temp. from the steering wheel too.

 

changing temp from the steering wheel was a function on the Gen3 Prius, not sure if it's on a Gen4 but not available on the Prime

 

It used to be easier to figure out in the old days when "on" meant on and "off" meant off

 

One of the coolest things in the Prius is the air conditioning system. I don't see why anyone would choose not to use it. Firstly it provides a way of conditioning the air optimally conditioned to preserve and maintain the battery. Secondly it filters the air and keeps it warmer or cooler than the ambient air outside. Thirdly it keeps you from destroying the nearly flawless aerodynamics of the vehicle. Read up on it some learned about how it calculates how much glass there is and how much heat the vehicle is observing due to the amount of glass and the temperature of the outside air adjusting the mixture of heating and air it is really amazing. Then have your ear automatically filtered and conditioned for you at the temperature that you most enjoy and watch how your gas mileage actually improves.

 

Meh, we'll have to agree to disagree on most of those points.

 

Still, read up on it and you'll be rewarded with a longer battery and better gas mileage too


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