Long time for warm air with heater?

[Pete1burn]

Just curious. For the first time, I tried turning on my heater this morning to defrost the windows a bit and it was cold air. To test, I put it on vent and cranked the heat up. It felt a little warmer after a couple of minutes, but I'm just curious if this is normal or if it's a problem. Does it take a while for the heater to "heat up"? Is this why people try to use the climate control remotely when plugged in?

Thanks!

 

[BrockWI]

What year and model do you have? I ask because some have a heat pump (2013 SV & SL and alter) as the primary heater and some have the 5kw resistance heater. We have the 2013 S and it has the resistance heater, but if you hit the defrost it turns the heat and AC on as well to dry the air and makes the air coming out a little cooler, but a LOT more dry. 90% of the time I just shut off the AC part on defrost and the warm air is enough to defrost everything.

 

[Pete1burn]

I have a 2012 SL. I always shut off the AC as well thinking it will help with battery life.

 

[RegGuheert]

It takes a while for the resistive heater to heat up the fluid which is then used to warm the air. If you have the car in ECO mode, it limits the amount of power to the heater to about 3.5 kW versus the normal 5 kW, which makes it take even longer.

There is a workaround in ECO mode, however: Set the temperature to the maximum value (90F?), and the power to the heater is no longer limited to 3.5 kW.

The design of the climate-control system in the MY2011/2012 LEAFs has to be one of my least-favorite aspects of the car. On top of that, the entire center console rattles constantly!

 

[Pete1burn]

I guess I'm lucky, I haven't heard mine rattle at all, but then again I've only had it for about a week. (15k miles.)

I turned the heat all the way up to 90 and it seemed to be taking a very long time to heat up. I hope it's not a problem.

 

[hill]

It takes a while for the resistive heater to heat up the fluid which is then used to warm the air. If you have the car in ECO mode, it limits the amount of power to the heater to about 3.5 kW versus the normal 5 kW, which makes it take even longer. ......snip......

iduno .... I'da sworn the heater (in eco mode) went WELL above 3.5kW's ... even tho I had it set very low. I'll have to check tomorrow morning.

I guess I'm lucky, I haven't heard mine rattle at all, but then again I've only had it for about a week. (15k miles.) ....snip....

WOW !!! that means you're doing 89mph .... 24/7 .... since the minute you picked it up ... without stoping to charge !!!

.

 

[RegGuheert]

I turned the heat all the way up to 90 and it seemed to be taking a very long time to heat up. I hope it's not a problem.

It certainly won't be instant at 5kW. But there have been some failures of the heating element. Hopefully yours is still working.

 

[RegGuheert]

It takes a while for the resistive heater to heat up the fluid which is then used to warm the air. If you have the car in ECO mode, it limits the amount of power to the heater to about 3.5 kW versus the normal 5 kW, which makes it take even longer. ......snip......

iduno .... I'da sworn the heater (in eco mode) went WELL above 3.5kW's ... even tho I had it set very low. I'll have to check tomorrow morning.

You might be right when the defroster is on. But with simply heating, it is limited.

 

[min68]

5kW! so with heater on for 1 hour I lose 25 miles. Considering my commute drive is average 25 mph, that means if heater is ON, half of energy is used for heater?
Why they need to design like that? at home a 1.5KW heater fan is enough to heat small area like washroom.

BTW question: does Leaf 2015 S come with heat pump or resister heater? if heater pump, what is power rate?

What year and model do you have? I ask because some have a heat pump (2013 SV & SL and alter) as the primary heater and some have the 5kw resistance heater. We have the 2013 S and it has the resistance heater, but if you hit the defrost it turns the heat and AC on as well to dry the air and makes the air coming out a little cooler, but a LOT more dry. 90% of the time I just shut off the AC part on defrost and the warm air is enough to defrost everything.

 

[BrockWI]

Well hopefully your bathroom is surrounded by windows with very little insulation with a 60 mph wind at 0F blowing on it But to be fair hopefully most of the time the heater isn't running flat out, rather heating up then cycling on and off to maintain a temperature. When you get in a car at 0F and you turn the heat on, I can tell you 5kw doesn't seem like much at all

 

[JeremyW]

It takes a while for the resistive heater to heat up the fluid which is then used to warm the air. If you have the car in ECO mode, it limits the amount of power to the heater to about 3.5 kW versus the normal 5 kW, which makes it take even longer. ......snip......

iduno .... I'da sworn the heater (in eco mode) went WELL above 3.5kW's ... even tho I had it set very low. I'll have to check tomorrow morning.

At least in the 2011-2012's, if you are in defrost mode it overrides eco and you can get full heater power.

 

[dgpcolorado]

5kW! so with heater on for 1 hour I lose 25 miles. Considering my commute drive is average 25 mph, that means if heater is ON, half of energy is used for heater?
Why they need to design like that? at home a 1.5KW heater fan is enough to heat small area like washroom.

No, it doesn't work like that. Once the heater heats up the fluid in the bottle, the amount of power used drops quickly (unless one is driving in extremely cold conditions). In Eco the heater is limited in power so if one wants it to heat up quickly it might be best to use D for a few minutes until the warm air is flowing. Using the defroster overrides the Eco setting and the heater will max out until it warms up, since defrosting/defogging the windshield is a safety issue. But in most cases, after the initial warm-up, the heater power draw drops quickly.

One way to minimize range loss from the heater is to preheat the car while plugged-in. (Of course, that won't work if the car is parked in an area where it can't be plugged-in.) Not only is getting into a warm car pleasant, it reduces the need for the heater for some time afterward. In cold climates, preheating using a Level 1 (120 V) EVSE doesn't work very well, however, because it doesn't supply enough power.

BTW question: does Leaf 2015 S come with heat pump or resister heater? if heater pump, what is power rate?

I believe that the 2015 S model has the resistance heater. The heat pump is limited to the SV/SL models. How much power it uses depends on conditions. In very cold temperatures (below about 10ºF) even those models use a resistance heater as a back-up. [One disadvantage of the heat pump is that it has been reported to use more power for cooling than the dedicated AC unit in the older model LEAFs, which is quite efficient.]

 

[Nubo]

In my experience the resistance heater "warms up" a little bit faster than an ICE vehicle's. But not by a lot. And of course it's like the tortoise and the hare -- the LEAF will begin to warm sooner but once the ICE gets going, it's got a bazillion BTUs of waste heat available.

And yes if it is very cold and you are limiting the heater with Eco, it may take a very long time to warm up at 1.5kW. In my area it rarely gets below freezing. But when it does I usually make it a point to stay out of Eco for at least long enough to get the cabin up to temperature. Once warmed up, the 1.5kW is sufficient to maintain the cabin at a comfortable temp if ambient is above 25F.