Prius A/C in Florida

Howdy howdy,

I've found the A/C to be plenty effective but we haven't had any days quite that hot yet.
I think with the Prius, as with any car, having the A/C on full-blast is not going to give you the most effective cooling. Either the coils could freeze up or the coils could not have a chance to cool off due to the large volume of air moving through them. I find a medium-to-low A/C fan speed setting with a mild temperature setting like 72 works best, especially to start with.

Oh yes, the windshield visor when parked makes a big difference.

Also, when you're starting out, drive with the windows down for a bit to get rid of some of the blast furnace air and then close them and turn on the A/C.

A/C in recirc. mode is more efficient than in fresh air mode.

Stay cool,

Eric

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eberrong @ Jun 11 2007, 01:31 PM) [snapback]459585[/snapback]</div>

I don't think the problem is the strength of the A/C. The Prius has a lot of glass, so it acts like a greenhouse - absorbing and retaining a lot of heat from the sun. Though I don't have the Florida humidity, temps here have been over 100 just about every day for the past few weeks and I would be very uncomfortable without the dark-tinted windows. I also always use a sunshade on the windshield when I park in the sun.

 

I live in florida too and while im not sure how the A/C controls on the Prius work, you might want to look into starting off with the A/C on regular and not 'max'.

For many vehicles 'Max A/C' means that just takes air in the cabin and then cools that.

The plain 'A/C' setting would take air from the outside and cool it, and put it in the cabin.

So, usually, using Max A/C will produce colder air. However, if your just getting into a car that has been closed up, it could be well over 100 degrees, so now your car is trying to cool down the 110 interior air.

It might be smarter to, at first, chose the plain option and then switch to 'max a/c' once the car is already cold.

Tint and sun visor are also a must, especially with how sloped (large area) your windshield and rear window are.

 

I have been very please with how quickly the a/c cools down my prius, but maybe the cars I've had in the past were deficient in that area compared to others...

Also I do have tinted windows in mine and use the sunshade if it will be parked for any length of time (golf, or park n' ride while at work). My car seems quite a bit cooler, or I should say "less hot," than I am used to with other untinted cars.

 

I never enable my A/C beyond Medium level and I find myself turning it down after about 10 mins in the car.

In the Phoenix area we have had many days surpassing the 100 degree marks and I have had no issues with the A/C.

I agree that the A/C in the Prius is not as good as my previous cars at the max speed but as myself and others have mentioned just use the A/C at a lower speed and you should be fine.

Besides the high speed puts a pretty large drain on your battery which in turn will lower your gas mileage.

 

A question and a coupl-ah comments, please!

Question: I've heard pros and cons about tinting windows and whether it really does/does not keep the car cooler. I have asked several people - most say it works, but not very much. Input, anybody?

Now - as a resident of Swampville, er, Naples, Flawed-duh! I've dealt with this thang called "summer" for five years now. Parking in the sun? USE a sunshade. Period. Old-school folk I know have a neat-oh trick with it. Take a sunshade - largest you can get - and glue some small magnets on the edges. Place the sunshade on the OUTSIDE of the hatch cover or windshield, and the li'l magnets will "stick" to the metal part of the car. (The magnets have either tape or plastic so they don't scratch)
Sunshades put on the inside of the glass do help - but the glass still "boils" in the sun. I have two shades for front and back of the Honda I'll be trading in if my sales-guy ever finds a Prius for us!
Also - I often do open windows for a minute or so - then put the AC on MAX. Otherwise, you're just bringing in all that swamp-air. . .

 

I live in Vegas, so I do have some experience with the AC. Cars can get over 140 degrees inside. I've learned to roll down the windows when I first get in, this helps get the car down towards outside temperature much quicker than the AC can. After a few blocks of driving, I've cooled the car a bit and I roll the windows up.

I find that my Prius AC works as well as my other cars and has cost me about .6 mpg.

It would be nice if the Max AC setting were a bit more intelligent on knowing when to use outside air vs inside. For example, it would be neat-o if it would suck in the nice 'cool' 110 degree air from outside when inside is warmer and then recirculate the cabin air when the inside temp is close to outside.

 

yep...... you gotta tint those windows and use a sunscreen!

the first few days of having our prius i was shocked at how HOT that little sucker was! that was compared to my acura mdx with just as many (more?) windows as the little prius.... HOT HOT HOT little car..... we got the ceramic tint that does a lot of reflecting of heat and it's amazing the difference!

and of course the sun screen to keep the sun out of the windshield while parked!

(plus the prius looks even better with tinted windows, IMO!)

 

The rear hatch is aluminum. Don't expect magnets to stick.

 

I concur with most of above. We have only been up to high 80's so far, but tinted windows make a big difference, due to large glass area. Also sunshade and venting after parking are good suggestions.

 

I'm on the west coast of Florida and it sure has been hot and humid for the last couple of days, I just got my windows tinted by the dealer(Free tint with new car purchase and lifetime warranty) it made a big difference, I also have leather interior and now the seats are cool to the touch where before they were pretty warm.

 

Using the A/C does not harm the battery. On the contrary: the battery system is cooled by cabin air through the vent to the right of the rear seats. If you are uncomfortably hot then the battery system is also uncomfortably hot, and that reduces fuel economy. As in so many other respects the Prius is not like conventional cars.

 

I had both my Priuses in the Orlando area for a total of almost 2 years... The sunshade definitely makes a huge difference! Invest in a good one.

Though I no longer live in FL, I'm pursuing the tinting now. I think it will help even more.

That said, I've been pretty happy with the "windows-down-for-first-minute" method.

 

I too enjoy the heat and humidity of south Florida. The tinting and the sunshades are necessary. I bought the wind deflectors so that I could keep all 4 windows cracked open and no rain can get it. Also the windows don't look open. This seems to know about 10 to 15 degrees off the interior heat.

 

In my experience the Prius' A/C is one of the worst systems I've found in a modern car. It takes forever to get cold.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JimN @ Jun 11 2007, 09:18 PM) [snapback]459861[/snapback]</div>

Aluminum? Didn't know that. The sunshades with magnets that I've seen wrap over the whole hatchback, and so I guess they must attach to the car body on either side and above the hatch? I'll have to look closer. I use my shade with magnets on a Honda Accord - which will be traded for the Prius if my sales-guy ever gets the danged thing ordered!

 

I have my air conditioning on Automatic. Is it O.K?. It doesn't feel real cold, but not too bad. Why doesn't anyone else use "Auto"?

Mary