I hear your frustration. If you want manual control, this may not be the car for you. It does things on its own to protect itself.
And it will get harder and harder to disable things because things will not be a simple on/off switching or relays anymore but rather pulse width controls with feed back loops. Mess with it and the car will throw a tantrum to the point where specialized tool (dealer only) will needed to re enable things. Component will only work with "hardcoded handshakes", Meaning parts will be looking for other parts with specific "hard coded serial numbers", if it is removed, exchanged or altered, componants/parts will not talk to each other.
This will be the future of car selfawareness. Genisys is cyberdyne

 

push the BLUE down arrow all the way.

 

If you somehow manage to disable the heater I'm sure the car would throw codes left and right and may not even drive since it also uses the heater to warm the battery...

From my experience, "fan only" does just that if you're not in a defog mode (with auto-defog also off)

 

<snip>...since it also uses the heater to warm the battery...

WRONG! ....at least for the 11-15s. I haven't seen a write-up on the 16s yet, but I suspect that the systems are similar, if not the same.

Courtesy of WOT:

http://gm-volt.com/2010/12/09/the-chevrolet-volt-coolingheating-systems-explained/

 

The car uses the heater (and A/C) to maintain the battery, so disabling it is not a good idea.

The HVAC controls are convoluted and frustrating. Fan Only works as such except when the air is being warmed or cooled for the sake of the battery- then the Fan Only setting will provide heated or cooled air accordingly if you have the temp set high or low enough. Also it will run A/C if you have auto-defog set to on in the config menus. Also it will run the A/C if you have air directed to the windshield.

 

Lots of misinformation here.

The battery has its own heating loop that uses its own dedicated heating unit, not the heating unit for the climate control system. I didn't plan to mess with the air conditioning because it IS a shared unit, or with the battery heating system.

It is my understanding that the climate control heating unit has three modes, off, half power, and full power... if this is correct it is cheaper to use simple relays as controls, so I hope for once GM cheaped out

Keith

 

Turn off auto-defog, and dont use the front defrost button. Go to climate screen and use manual everything. If you want to keep the windshield clear with fan only, use the windshield/foot option for vent control and that should keep it fan only.

Every new car I have driven in the past 10 years forces climate control in defog modes, some let you disable it, others don't. Some hide that they are even doing it to the driver, but a quick look at the manual will mention it.

 

Repeat: turn off auto defog. That'll give you what you want.
Our Volt does fog up very easily, but I've found that driving with windows cracked can normally keep it clear.

 

Have you disabled the auto defrost option?

 

Buy a 1953 Jeep. Otherwise, modern cars do what they do.

 

This post needs a "Like" button. (Seriously, folks, you bought a highly-engineered car because you know engineers are smart people and generally make good decisions when then have an opportunity to build on prior art or tests. Take advantage of that skill. Let the car do what it *knows* is best. If it's a pain to make it do something, it's probably because it's in nobody's best interest. If you want a car with manual choke and an adjustable carburetor, complete control over everything, you know where to find 'em.)

 

No way do I need heat at 45F to defog my windows. Some engineer living in California thinks 45F is cold, so my heater turns on if I try to defog my windshield. I will try the "feet and windshield" setting. Even if it works, it is BS that I need to chill my feet to keep my Windshield clear.

Keith

PS: I think that the self driving cars of the future will be great... if they don't have an option to let the front left hand passenger drive them I will not get one.

 

PS: I think that the self driving cars of the future will be great... if they don't have an option to let the front left hand passenger drive them I will not get one.

Why would you "get one" at all? Use an app on your phone to summon one when needed. Let it go when you're at your destination. Who wants to deal with parking, insurance, fueling/charging, etc.?

 

I think you can avoid heat use if you have auto defog off and avoid the defog button (the one that directs airflow just to the windshield) and the setting that directs airflow to both the feet and windshield. That means using the dash vents which I know is probably not what you want. Another option would be to crack a window.

I also prefer fully manual HVAC controls. Many cars have that on lower trim levels and put auto climate control on higher trim levels. The Volt lacks a trim level that is low enough to omit auto climate control. There are a number of different situations where I do not like what the auto configuration selects.

But if preserving e range is the main issue, I think in the end the best way to preserve your sanity is to accept whatever probably minimal hit there is to range and accept the car's real-world e range for what it is. It is still better than almost all alternative cars. Someday there will be enough EV choices in the market that one will meet your preferences more exactly. That day is not here yet.

 

I was wondering if anyone else out there got pissed off and figured out how to disable the electric heater unit?

The answer to your question is, "no". At least no one has posted such a mod here.

 

I share the OP's frustrations. But based on my (very non-scientific) observations, I believe the heater control is variable, rather than off-half on-on. So I kinda doubt that there's a simple way to add a switch to disable it.

Fortunately, I believe the MY2016 has a fix implemented for those wanting to direct air at the windshield without turning on the heater or freezing their feet: a button was added for "windshield" airflow that's separate from the "feet" button.

Can any of the 2016 owners confirm that this is in fact how the new airflow buttons work?

 

Call me stupid, but I don't understand why fan only can keep your windshield clear, but adding heat or a/c doesn't. Help me out here.

 

I was wondering if anyone else out there got pissed off and figured out how to disable the electric heater unit? I assume it is powered from a relay, probably switched by the 12v system since that is what all the control systems run on... shouldn't be hard to put an interrupter switch in the control circuit side of the relay... just wondering if anyone has already done this or will I be the first if I get frustrated enough?

Keith

To summarize what everyone else has said and to answer your question:

1. GM put the switch on there to bypass the heater, it is the thermostat. Turn it until it reads "Lo" or until the heat shuts off.
2. Make sure you turn off auto defog on the configuration settings.

And yes every new car I have been in does some things on its own. Like turn the AC on in the winter to defog the windshield. I now set the settings that are comfortable as if I were in a non-EV car and enjoy the ride. If I burn a pint of gas, so what. It is now a $1.70 a gallon. I will set the comfort level back to "uncomfortable" when gas jumps back to 4 bucks.

 

how to not use heat? turn off auto defog, direct the output at your feet or face only, turn off the fan, set the temp to low.

lots of operator control in that list. if you have the air blowing at the windshield at all, then it is more limiting...

I think that the heater power is PWM controller proportionally based on the differential between the detected interior temperature and the set point temperature along with a whole fistful of other conditions. ECO reduces the maximum to 50%- 3 kw, and reduces the fan speed at each setting, but the car will still regulate power between 0 and 50%.

 

The heater is not simply on/50%/100%
I have seen variable amounts at idle anywhere from 1kW-7kW (base load is 0.5kW)
It will provide the amount of energy required to meet the needs of the system.

To defog your window without added energy, select fan and foot+windshield selection. Same as you would on any ICE to avoid using AC (which automatically engages in windshield/defrost position in any car since like... 2000)

 

(which automatically engages in windshield/defrost position in any car since like... 2000)

It goes back a bunch further than that, in many cases. My 1989 Suburban was set up to engage A/C automatically in the defroster position, and I don't think it was a novel new feature when that car was made (though I wasn't really paying attention to cars that much when it was built, and without the internet it was much harder to learn things.)

 

That was just a stab in the dark. Main point was many years it has been standard

 

Since Chevy doesn't seem to know what the words "Fan Only" mean, I was wondering if anyone else out there got pissed off and figured out how to disable the electric heater unit? I assume it is powered from a relay, probably switched by the 12v system since that is what all the control systems run on... shouldn't be hard to put an interrupter switch in the control circuit side of the relay... just wondering if anyone has already done this or will I be the first if I get frustrated enough?

To answer the OPs initial question about what is required to disable the electric heater unit:

It is very simple to disable the K10 Coolant Heater Control Module on the Gen1 Volt by just removing the 5A minifuse from F37 of the X50A Fuse Block (Engine Compartment Fuse Block).

I did this prior to getting the K10 on my Gen1 replaced under warranty work and verified removing this fuse thus disabling the electric heat throws out NO additional CEL codes with the Volt running. You could also remove this fuse to verify the K10 is operating normally since the kW usage with heat commanded ON will drop drastically (no load) when F37 is removed!

 

Who doesnt want heat when its cold?


This is why people who drive "normal" cars make fun of us.

 

......

 

Off topic but I want one of these

http://sandyblogs.com/techlink/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/GM_TechLink_11_June_2015.pdf

 

One word. Seriously?

 

I grew up in Michigan, 45F isn't cold. If it is 45F outside I already have a jacket on, I am not going to take the jacket off and run the heater in my car. Even driving an ICE car I don't bother with running the heater unless it is lower than 40F outside unless it is a long trip and I plan on taking my coat off.

Thanks for the tips, running with windshield and feet solved the issue, but it is nice to know it can be disabled by pulling a fuse.

I should have mentioned I have a 2011 so no watt meter to let me know how much power the heater is using under different conditions. My wife for me a Bluetooth OBD2 dongle for Christmas, so data acquisition is in my near future

Keith