How to get heat from the vents??

i'll do a breif summary (in my mind)

use auto.

on warm days i'll set it as low as 72F.. or about 22c and i leave it alone. if it's hot out, it will blow dash vents only while recirculating to cool the car faster. after it starts to cool, it reduces fan speeds and sets to non recirculate when the load of cooling the car is light enough.

on a cold day i'll turn my temp as high as 78F (if i'm sick even higher) or about 26c. both gen II and gen III have electric heater assist for the heating system. it.. helps kinda... either way it only takes the car a min or so to warm up while at speed. if you have lights and such it may take longer. the warmup cycles on the gen III is faster than the gen II. when toyota released the warmup recordings, it was something like 1/5 the time.

If it's really cold the system will act very similar to hot.. but it runs outer dash vents and floor with recirculate so it can boost cabin heat faster. recirculate will turn off eventually and the fans will reduce. if the car heats up too much , it will switch to dash vents and cool the car.

which vents are on is a good indication of what your car is trying to do.

ah.. sensors.. that cabin sunlight sensor is on the dash. it looks like a little bubble just under the glass on the left hand side. other sensors were added in on the Gen II.. all for the auto climate system.. i think more for detecting bad air. i won't name off sensor because i'm not really sure which ones the prius was handed with this system.

If you really feel the need to take manual control, you can.. we won't tsk you too much. when the cabin reaches the temp you set, you'll either have to fumble with the climate screen or return to auto a/c with a desired temp.. why not just leave it on auto? shrug...

so.. i've never had problems with my a/c.. even in Vegas with 4 large guys in the car while it's 112 outside, it performed pretty well.

most people never realize i never touch the a/c... they are always comfortable. with 126k miles on my car, it's had a lot of traffic (inside and out) to test it.

 

I have had three AUTO climate control systems on my last three cars. I set the temp, and that's it. On a hot day, it will take a little longer for it to cool, so the fan runs at higher speeds for a longer time. The A/C button does not always mean cold. I leave it on in the winter, too, which acts as a de-humidifier and reduces interior window fogging.

 

onbypass; thanks for covering the a/c being used as a de-humidifier. there is a humidity sensor... the a/c kicks on an off as it sees fit.