[DBMoore]

I live in the Phoenix area and have only occasionally needed heat. Once in a while the windshield fogs up so I punch the defrost button. The power consumption is more than I care to suffer.

Since the climate here is very dry, if I could force the ventilation mode into outside air only I could clear the fog on the windshield without turning on the defroster and using heat. The owner's manual (yes I RTFM) tells me how to manually turn on re-circulation, or I can have the car choose for me.

I want to force outside air, like I can on nearly every other car I have owned. Is there a way to do that on my 2013 Volt?

 

[llninja]

There are 4 magical buttons on the driver's side door that opens your 4 windows. Unfortunately there is not vent function, but fan only and cracking a rear window works well to get outside air flowing through the vents.

 

[viking79]

On gen 1, turn off the auto-defog function in the settings, then go to climate page, click fan only and the foot/defrost icon for the output. That should turn on upper vent without running AC, if I recall correctly.

Clicking the defog front window button under the screen turns on the AC automatically. As it should, no matter the situation it will clear your window.

Followup:
Yes, just checked hitting defrost haptic touch button took climate power from 11% to 55%, but using the climate touch screen and leaving it fan only and touching defrost vent selector left climate power at 11%. It is winter and cold here so it is using heat, but I am pretty sure it is same with AC in summer.

AC will still sometimes run to cool the battery, if it does you will notice colder air coming out of the vents if temp is set to a low temp setting.

 

[Lumos]

this can be done with the hvac system

If you disable auto-recirculation, you'll be able to manually tell the car to use outside air.
The steps to get what you want are:
a) disable auto re-circulation (auto recirculation virtual button blue)
b) manually select no recirculation (recirculation virtual button blue)
c) select fan only (fan only virtual button green)
d) choose windshield + foot for distribution ( lower right air distribution icon green)

This will get the car setup as you asked. But I too miss old school vents outlets that were permanently connected to outside air -but that goes back to my high school days...

-Lumos

-2014 gen 1

 

[BillG]

I want to force outside air, like I can on nearly every other car I have owned. Is there a way to do that on my 2013 Volt?

Go to the Climate screen and turn off (deselect) the two recirculate "buttons". I didn't even have to RTFM to figure that out.

 

[ClarksonCote]

If you disable auto-recirculation, you'll be able to manually tell the car to use outside air.
The steps to get what you want are:
a) disable auto re-circulation (auto recirculation virtual button blue)
b) manually select no recirculation (recirculation virtual button blue)
c) select fan only (fan only virtual button green)
d) choose windshield + foot for distribution ( lower right air distribution icon green)

This will get the car setup as you asked. But I too miss old school vents outlets that were permanently connected to outside air -but that goes back to my high school days...

-Lumos

-2014 gen 1

This. The auto recirculation button and the recirculation button both need to be Blue (off) on the climate screen, and then only outside air is used. Apologies for the people telling you it is not possible.

This does also make a big difference in preventing fogging. I think many people who have fogging issues don't realize this simple trick to force outside air.

 

[DBMoore]

Now that makes a certain amount of sense:
- Re-circulation = Off
- Auto-re-circulation = Off
Logically all that is left is outside air.
Thanks ClarksonCote!

 

[ClarksonCote]

Now that makes a certain amount of sense:
- Re-circulation = Off
- Auto-re-circulation = Off
Logically all that is left is outside air.
Thanks ClarksonCote!

You're welcome. The curve ball is knowing you need to set TWO buttons a certain way, rather than just one. Hope it helps a bunch!

 

[voganni]

Yes, it helps a LOT. Took me two years to figure it out though. I rather thought the car mainly used outside air when on auto-recirc because I could smell diesels in front of me. Not so apparently.