Chilly Feet? Recirculate.

On one of our recent cold mornings, it seemed my feet were getting colder. I have noticed that when I make a turn, I can feel the air shift in car. I thought there was an insulation issue...until I reached down by the accelerator pedal, and felt a stream of cold air. The climate system was off. I switched on Recirculate, and the air flow in the footwell stopped.

Is this a common thing, or do I have a reason to visit the dealership?

Other than that, the car glides long the road and is a joy to drive; I especially like the Bose audio system more than I thought I would.

Appreciate all the info on the forum.

VideoSteve said:

Is this a common thing, or do I have a reason to visit the dealership?

Click to expand...

Welcome! Thanks for the question. In short: this is normal. Several posters, including myself, made the same observation on the first-gen LEAF. It appears that the behavior has not changed between now and then.

I consider it not only normal, but desirable. In mild weather I often run with ac, heat, and fan all off, flow to face, and recirculate off. It provides a gentle supply of fresh air. Surely recirculate off should mean air is coming from the outside, no? If recirculate off didn't bring in outside air, I would take the car to the dealer.

Ray

planet4ever said:

I consider it not only normal, but desirable. In mild weather I often run with ac, heat, and fan all off, flow to face, and recirculate off. It provides a gentle supply of fresh air. Surely recirculate off should mean air is coming from the outside, no? If recirculate off didn't bring in outside air, I would take the car to the dealer.

Ray

Click to expand...

Exactly.

When the climate control system is off it defaults to foot mode. This means when it is cold outside cold air will blow on your feet when the vehicle is in motion. This can easily be changed by pressing the mode button. The first press will change it to vent mode. This is true for all model years.

Changing from fresh to recirc does indeed stop the airflow. However it creates a situation where fogging can easily occur.

kovalb said:

When the climate control system is off it defaults to foot mode. This means when it is cold outside cold air will blow on your feet when the vehicle is in motion. This can easily be changed by pressing the mode button. The first press will change it to vent mode. This is true for all model years.

Changing from fresh to recirc does indeed stop the airflow. However it creates a situation where fogging can easily occur.

Click to expand...

I noticed that too and I find it really annoying that it defaults the to foot mode every time you turn CC off! Didn't know that you can change the mode with CC off. Will try that next time.

I do wonder if there is a way to make it default to the defrost mode when the CC is off to keep the windshield from fogging us without running the fan?

I almost always turn recirc "on" in the winter for this reason. Unfortunately, whenever you run the heat it resets it to outside airflow...so it becomes a constant button push, kind of like hitting the "ok" button every time you start the car.

The trick I use is to turn the climate control setting to defrost with no heat and no AC with the fan on the lowest setting. Then shut off the controls. It seems to stay on the defrost venting, so the fresh outside air is blowing across the windshield rather than at your feet. Usually this is also enough air movement to keep the windshield clear with just me in the car. If I need a bit more I turn the CC back on , again with AC and heat off, fan low and set for windshield. With wet kids in the car after swim practice I have to speed up the fan and sometimes use just the heat to help with the defog.

The simplest way to deal with the 'cold feet syndrome' (with climate control off), at least with the '13 and up Leaf, is to just switch recirculate on. This will work even with the climate control off, without turning it back on - you will see the recirculate light come on. The windshield won't fog immediately unless it is very humid outside.

Cold feet and cold hands is a sign that your body core is getting too cool - we sacrifice our extremities to keep our core warm. The heated seat will help you keep your feet warm, and so will wearing a insulated vest. The heated steering helps keep your hands warm, and so will wearing gloves. Wear a winter hat.

The lack of easy heat in an electric car is because of why we like electric cars so much: they are so efficient and there is almost no waste heat.