[kk07]

I have 2018 volt with less than 2000 miles. I have set the temperature to the lowest, and the knob says LOW. Then I ran a low speed fan, the display says Fan Only. But as I was driving I started to get cool air that is much cooler than outside temperature (75). I can tell AC is running. The Eco or Max buttons are all turned off.

Why is the AC running for the fan only mode? How can I force the AC not to run?

 

[lagagnon]

...all explained on page 158 of your manual...

 

[kk07]

Gotcha. So I went and read more and came up with another question. The manual says

When in Fan Only mode, the air
conditioning system may turn on
automatically if the high voltage
battery is being cooled. The climate
control system could blow cold air.
This is normal. To prevent cold air
from blowing into the interior, turn off
the fan control and select the vent
mode and manual recirculation
mode, and close the air vents.

So during fan only mode, the car turns on AC to cool the battery as needed to cool it down, but if I manually turn off the fan, the battery is no longer cool?
Those two things should be independent of each other? Are we talking about cooling the cabin so that the cooler cabin indirectly cools the battery underneath the rear seat? Aren't there any coolant going around the battery already? Why is fan only mode getting involved in cooling the temperature of the battery?

 

[FI Spyder]

You've got it slightly backwards. Let me try to explain. If the fan is on and the battery needs cooling the A/C will come on. To prevent too cool an interior, turn off the fan. The cooled coolant will continue to be circulated through the battery, keeping it within it's limits. The fan isn't involved with cooling the battery, just the interior. So now we have the battery being cooled by the pumped cooled coolant. To address the interior with the fan making it too cool you can select the vent mode where the air pressure of the moving car (fan is off)will circulate the outside air through the car. You can adjust the amount and direction by manually adjusting the air vents as to volume and direction.

 

[kk07]

Where do I select the vent mode?

I tried to play around with the control, I am not sure I am getting the vent mode or not (I haven't got a chance to drive at high speed to detect if any outside air is coming through the vent or not). If I hit the power button to turn off the fan, do I get into the vent mode automatically?

 

[lagagnon]

Referring back to page 158 "Vent mode" means select the face vent (#11 right) and turn on recirculating air (#5) and close the vents.

 

[Barry]

Realistically, you shouldn't have to worry about all the settings changes. As long as you turn the fan off, the total amount of cooling that will enter the cabin is small. With that and recirculate turned on, it should be undetectable regardless of other settings. And this normally happens during hot weather, so it shouldn't make you less comfortable.

 

[Cord]

as you see this is a common question.

In the olden day we had the loud magnetic clutch click to tell us the A/C just came on
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[kk07]

Referring back to page 158 "Vent mode" means select the face vent (#11 right) and turn on recirculating air (#5) and close the vents.

But if I turn on recirculating air (#5), doesn't it mean the outside air is not coming in, but the inside air is being recirculated? I wanted the outside air to come through from the moving car.

 

[Barry]

But if I turn on recirculating air (#5), doesn't it mean the outside air is not coming in, but the inside air is being recirculated? I wanted the outside air to come through from the moving car.

Right, with "recirculate" turned on, the outside air does not come in. But I gather you also don't want any cooled air entering the cabin. Understand that the A/C may be on (to cool the battery), so if you let the outside air flow in, it will be somewhat cooled by the A/C being on. If you want to avoid any cooled air entering the cabin, then this won't work for you.

If the A/C is on to cool the battery and you want outside air to enter the cabin and you want it to not be somewhat cooled, then your option is to let it in through the window. Another option is to increase your temperature setting, and use Eco or Max, in which case some heat would be used to offset the cooling.

 

[kk07]

Thanks, Barry. I got it now.