How to Turn off All Heat and Cold A/C?

welcome to priuschat, did you turn heat to 'low'?

 

Press the "Off" button?

 

i don't have a c, but on the liftback, when you turn down the temp, the lowest temp number is 65, and the next setting down says 'low'. it doesn't go any lower, so that is off.

 

yes, off is for fan only, temp has to be lowered as far as possible before hitting off.

 

yup, been like that for a long time, not likely to change.

 

i have found that fresh air tends to be warmer than ambient, perhaps warmed by the engine compartment?

 

no, if the a/c button is off, you can have fresh air in summer with temp on low. just don't use 'auto', it's a game changer.

 

And just one more little point of clarification:
You can not ever turn the air circulation completely OFF; that is a safety feature having to do
with maintaining a tiny positive cabin pressure to help keep exhaust gasses out.

Regarding the initial question:
Whatever heat is leaking into the remaining incoming air is just that, a leak.
If your concern is with fuel economy, rest assured that the car is NOT adding that heat on purpose and will NOT make the engine run to maintain it.

Every car/truck I've had in the last 10 years or so wasn't able to completely turn off the heat when you want only fresh air.

 

I know why this is happening.

And I had this exact same question before (can't find the post) but here you go:

After you have turned everything off, press the button with your temperature controls that re-circulates the air.

This will turn off all the drafts, hot and cold.

 

Nailed it

 

Just a note for summer, the A/C that is keeping you cool is also keeping your batteries cool. do not skimp on A/C.

(This will be more important in AZ than in AK)

 

Then it sounds like you'll have to keep that re-circulation button off.

 

And I think you are wrong.

Years ago, they used to regulate the heat by shutting a valve in the water line to the heater core.
As long as the valve worked, that assured you of no stray heat.

Then.....about 30 years ago or so, probably as a cost cutting measure, they left out that valve and the heater core is HOT all the time.......and the temperature is regulated by how much air is allowed to flow over it and into the cabin.

The problem with that is that the air dampers often don't close completely and often allow a bit of HOT air to flow even when the door is closed.

So.......if you restart the car after it is hot and was off only a short time, the first air coming though often is pretty hot, because of the above mentioned design and because the air inlet by the windshield is always BLACK, taking only a very little sun to make that first gulp of air pretty warm.

Having said all of that, if yours doesn't cool down after a few minutes of having the fresh air on and the climate control off, and assuming you are moving at a fair speed, you might want to ask your dealer or mechanic to check the damper doors.