'08 Heater - Warm But Not Hot

Read the threads on grill blocking. It will help greatly with your heat.

Icarus

 

I have not had any problems with the heat in my 07. I don't use the auto a/c - when I want heat I turn the fan on and set the temp to 70 (maybe 72 if I'm really cold) and the car usually warms up pretty quickly. My grill is not blocked, fwiw. I do always wait 5-10 minutes for the engine to warm up before I turn it on, which is actually a habit I got into with my old Camry.

 

Which vents are you talking about?

The climate control system is designed to provide Hot air from the lower vents.

If you are feeling air coming from the dash vents you are checking the wrong place.

Just set your desired temp and hit AC/Auto on the wheel and you will be comfortable with nice hot air on your feet so it can rise and heat the rest of the car.

Too many people try to use the MFD and complain about comfort when they have messed it up.

 

Never had problems with my heater yet (knock-on-wood). For my driving pleasure, I set my temp at 68° and I put it on vent. Never really used Auto AC yet, but I know I'll be using it this summer. Anything above 70° setting will make me sweat inside the Prius.

 

No problem with my '08, I've only had the car about 1 1/2 month, but have already put 4000 miles on it, one 2600 mile round-trip from western Montana to eastern Minnesota in late-December/early-January (temps ranged from 40 to -5F), and lots of short trips (1-5 miles) and a few 50 mile jaunts.

My strategy thusfar has been to set the temp at 70F in Auto mode. I typically turn it off altogether until the car has been driven roughly five minutes, then turn it on. If I'm driving for 10 minutes or more, it warms up. Less than that, not so much. On the trip it stayed very comfortable on some very long days, 800-900 miles at a whack. I'd vary the temp up or down a degree or two, depending on whether I was warm or cool, always between 68-72, never above or below that range, and it worked great.

 

I live in Chicago -- I have it set on 68 degrees. When the outdoor temp was is between 0 and 10 degrees F, it takes awhile to warm up. (But so did Nonook the Subaru Forester.) Other than that, no problems. I like heat on the feet, so I look for the heat to blow from the floor vents, and that's what I get. I got my Prius about a month ago.

 

I think I have tried the my Prius heating system to its max....
I have seen -32 C in my temperature gauge already and the heater did its work.
It took a little while to finally heat the cabin but it did. Actually after few more minutes I had to decrease the set temperature because I got too hot.

Are you plugging you car (block heater)? That would help.

O.

 

I would seriously consider the grill blocking in Cleveland from at least 1 Dec-1 Mar. OAT temp. depending of course.
I'm totally convinced it increases mileage in cold weather, and my heater makes the car very toasty if I need it.
It's simple, there are many suggested solutions on the forum. The pipe insulation is the easiest imho.

 

Auto AC on MFD and steering wheel are the same but setting temp and fan and vent outlet on the MFD isn't as good as just Auto AC.

Use auto AC to defrost windows with auto AC and demist on. Auto AC will remove humidity and run the fan at the optimum speed.

 

question regarding my 2006. i have the heat (highest temp setting) coming up through the vents on my dash.... the heat is going well once the car is warmed-up (as expected). However, the air temperature will get fairly cool if i am parked on the side of the road after about 5 minutes. Then it will start to get warm after 2'ish additional minutes.

Is this normal?

 

Probably. Unlike most cars, the Prius doesn't have much waste heat. If you're parked, the gas engine will shut off until it starts to cool, then it will restart to keep warm. This probably corresponds to the temperature falling and rising.

 

thanks for responding.

 

i have -9 celsius today and am getting 5.4L/100km's
I do have my grills blocked.

On the mfd I have set it for windshield and leg warming.
It's set between low and medium speed, somewhere in the middle.
I set it for 21 degrees celsius . I keept it between 21 to 22 always.
I do have outside air ventilation selected also.

I start my vehicle and noticed I get warm air within 2 minutes from the floor.

How are you guys setting your auto ac feature???

 

I just set the temp I want, warm air comes through floor vents when heating and cool air comes from face vents.
That's all I can offer, I'm told I don't have a winter here. I have AC on to cool my home right now.

 

I just set the temp I want, warm air comes through floor vents when heating and cool air comes from face vents.
That's all I can offer, I'm told I don't have a winter here. I have AC on to cool my home right now.

 

For warm up (even down to 10F) I set the cabin temp to 73 and run the defrost. Once I am satisfied with the temp then to heat with fan on low. I might turn the temp down to 68 or even off. No problems so far.

 

<Grin>. It's been -20 to -30C the last few days. I've been bad, driving short trips. MFD says 7+l/100 km!! The coolant has been just barely reaching 60C! But I do get nice hot air blasting out of the vents. You get hot air from the lower vents and the two outside top vents. Use A/C auto (I use the steering wheel control). Set the temp to something comfortable, it doesn't really matter what. I use 22C, about 72F. You can set that as well from the steering wheel.

Don't bother to "warm up" the car for 10 min before you drive. It doesn't help much, other than to burn off that pesky fuel in the fuel tank.

DO block the grills! A Prius won't warm up much in cold weather unless you do. It's really very simple to do because you apply it from the outside. As long as the ambient temps are below 70F you don't have to worry about overheating.

You have to drive the Prius to warm it up. After 2-4 blocks at reasonable speeds it will be blowing hot air out the vents. Remember, to fully warm up a Prius, you must drive it for about 20 min. Also, it will cool down in only 5-10 min. once you shut it off. If it's warmed up and you get stuck in traffic, it will cool down somewhat just sitting and idling. You'll still get hot air out the vents though.

I've been using my block heater for the first time this past week. It brings the coolant up to about 30C after 3-4 hours. This shortens the warmup by about 2 minutes.

If you are getting frost on the inside of the windows, use the front "defrost" button (again, on the steering wheel). This turns on A/C auto and uses the A/C compressor to dry the air, as well as turning the fan on high and directing the air to the windshield. It feels cold because the air is moving so fast, but the air is being heated. Again, it won't be heated until you drive for 2-4 blocks at reasonable speed. But it will clear the windows quickly.

Ain't winter fun!