is my heater working?

[joetesta]

How should the heater work? Mine seems to work horribly. After several minutes it's barely warm. Is this simply how it is, or is something broken?

If I push the "auto" button for climate, the "AC" button lights up - should "AC" be lit up when I'm trying to heat? I don't think so, so I usually press it to turn it back off. After driving for about 15 minutes I can feel a little warmth, so maybe it's working and this is as good as it gets?

I had asked the dealership to look at it but they took so long to rotate the tires I almost lost my mind.

 

[sproqitman]

The quickest check is to look at the Energy Info screen in the center console. With the heater on, the Climate Control should be consuming anywhere from 1.5 to 4.5 kW.

And yes, having the AC on in auto mode makes sense if you're trying to defrost the windows.

 

[ebill3]

Leave the AC on. Back in the initial days of air conditioning, AC meant cooling. Now, think of it as conditioning the air to be comfortable - heat or cool as necessary. Same with current ICE vehicles.

 

[mwalsh]

I find the heater a bit wimpy when the car is being driven. The only time it seems to work really, really well is when you're pre-conditioning on charger/EVSE power.

 

[DesertDenizen]

How should the heater work? Mine seems to work horribly. After several minutes it's barely warm. Is this simply how it is, or is something broken?

Coincidentally I turned mine on for the first time this morning. I had the same experience. Next month when I bring it in I will ask the dealer to look at it, it can't really be so wimpy. Fortunately here in Tucson it is not a big deal.

 

[jsongster]

I drive a 2013 SL and my heater seems very good... If I set the temp high... the car gets too warm fairly quickly... if I set it to 66 or 68 it just takes the chill off the air and hardly uses any power at all... just makes sense.

Admittedly I don't live in a really cold area... the coldest so far this winter has been about 25 degrees... so freezing but not for long.

I also pre heat my seats and interior in the garage every morning on house power.

The seat heaters work very well also... except when my kids leave them on after I drop them at school.

 

[kolmstead]

Two things:

The (non-heat pump) heater has to heat up a water/anti-freeze mixture, which then circulates through a heat exchanger. This takes significant time and energy. Best way to help it along it is to preheat your car using a timer or Carwings. The heating element will draw up to 5 kW while it is warming the water, and you're better off powering it from the wall than from your battery.

If you use ECO mode, the heater is limited to 1.5 kW after initial heatup, and if it is very cold (like twenty degrees or less), the car will cool off as you drive. 1.5 kW is simply not enough energy to keep the cabin warm. If you're short on battery, like me, limiting the power draw becomes very important, so I leave it in ECO and dress warmly.

-Karl

 

[planet4ever]

I drive a 2013 SL and my heater seems very good.

You have a heat pump. Your experience is totally unrelated to that of all of us 2011/2012 drivers and 2013 S model drivers. As kolmstead says in the post below yours, the rest of us have a significant wait if we don't preheat, perhaps 5 minutes before we feel much heat.

Ray

 

[joetesta]

I'm almost always in ECO mode, so between that, and turning off the 'AC' it's no wonder it doesn't work as it should.
thanks very much for the replies and explanations everyone.

 

[Computerizer]

I did an experiment a little while back in our 2013 and 2012 to see the differences between the heater performance in cool weather.

It was 32-33 degrees F (0 deg C). Vehicles were parked and had been for many hours, at this temperature. I turned them on, left them in park, no Eco mode, etc.

Air coming from the vents in the 2012 SL:

• Warmer than ambient: 2 minutes
• A lot warmer: 4 minutes
• VERY warm (hot): 5 minutes

That's probably comparable to an ICE warming up.

Air coming from the vents on the 2013 SV:

• Warmer than ambient: 2 seconds
• A lot warmer: 5 seconds
• VERY warm (hot): 10 seconds

This is wonderful. Too bad this one's my wife's car.

It's worth noting that when I drive the 2012, I usually drive it in ECO mode and it takes a LOT longer to get warm that way (like 15 minutes). What I've started doing now (it's been in the 10s and 20s F), if I forget to preheat, is to run in D (not ECO) mode for the first 5 minutes or so of my drive, to get it warm, then switch to ECO which can usually keep it warm enough for the remainder of my 20 minute drive.

 

[adric22]

Yeah, I have a 2011 and live in Texas. So using the heater is rare. Only recently has it been cold enough for me to really use it and I've noticed that it takes several minutes to warm up, just like a gasoline car. And I've also noticed when in ECO mode, it doesn't get nearly as hot. Since I drive pretty short commute, I feel perfectly fine using as much heat as I want, so I have been having to put the car in "D" mode to get more heat.

 

[6yearstilbreakeven]

How should the heater work? Mine seems to work horribly. After several minutes it's barely warm. Is this simply how it is, or is something broken?

If I push the "auto" button for climate, the "AC" button lights up - should "AC" be lit up when I'm trying to heat? I don't think so, so I usually press it to turn it back off. After driving for about 15 minutes I can feel a little warmth, so maybe it's working and this is as good as it gets?

I had asked the dealership to look at it but they took so long to rotate the tires I almost lost my mind.

buy a digital thermometer, I got one at loews. I tested the center vents, and was getting 45degrees air pumping out when the heater was set to 90. You have to take it directly to the dealer when it fails...mine was failing randomly, and they kept giving me the car back, saying it was fine.