Jump to content

heat and defrost and decent mileage


grege
 Share

Recommended Posts

2018 titanium with heated seats.

 

Looking for recommendations for getting adequate heat from the blower.  I use the auto AC without issue, but wonder how folks handle their best heating/defrosting...

 

Does "auto" work well for heat settings?  Or is it better to manually select heat temperature (70F?  74F?  or...???F).  Heated seats help but won't be enough soon...which I'm sure will only drop gas mileage

 

Thanks!

Greg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Using re-circulation is the important thing.  I don't know if Auto uses it - I'll have to give it a try.  (Most auto-whatever algorithms don't do something I want so I rarely use them.)  You want to heat yourself, not the outside world.  Constantly heating 0F, 20F, even 40F air up to 70+ requires a lot more heat than just keeping the car warm using inside air.  But you have to keep an eye on it because the car will periodically switch recirc back Off.  I think when its cold enough it may stop doing that.  Set MyView screen to show ICE temperature and watch what happens.  You can be driving non-stop 'highway" at moderate speeds and without recirc the ICE won't stay up to the minimum temperature needed to center the gauge.  Recirc is also a must for AC.  Of course there are times when there's too much moisture in the car and you need outside air - but not likely when its really cold.

 

For defrost I just turn it on as needed and don't worry about it.  If you watch Climate Power in MyView you can see when the AC compressor is running during defrost.  As I recall, power draw is quite low - or zero.  You may have to turn off recirc.  A clear windshield is a must of course.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While it would be nice to use recirc in really cold weather, in my experience it doesn't work well.  Really cold weather = really cold glass, so the least bit of moisture inside (including from occupant breath) condenses on the windows.  Coupled with snow tracked in to the foot-wells, which then melts and adds moisture to the cabin air, and it is isn't possible to drive safely using recirc in cold winter weather.

It might work if there were partial recirc, but it seems to be binary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...