Climate Control Weirdness

[mtndrew1]

So I was driving along in my Volt and wanted the fan on. So I turned it on.

I got heat and massive power drain. WTF?!

See the attached photo. Is this a glitch or is the system operating as designed?

-Drew

[Jim Fallston Md.]

I think it is because you have it on Auto and the Temp on 74. It also looks like you may have a defroster on. I keep my temp all the way up in Eco { being pretty cold out lately } with the fan on 4 and the percentage usually reads 59%.

[Killerfred]

I have similar quelms with 'fan only' operation. Today I had temperature set to 'LOW', fan in the speed 1 position and it was still using 25%. Huh? Really? 25% to just operate the fan at speed 1? I just turned it off and cracked the windows.

If ANYONE figures this out please let me know. There should be a way to run the fan without A/C compressor or heater engaging.

[ClarksonCote]

The heat should not say "on" with "Fan Only" set, unless you are using your Defroster. That seems strange. The percentages are just estimates, I worry less about those.

[rmi63]

That's funny because I had the same situation today. I had to use the defroster and manually was turing it on and off as needed. When the defroster was off, I had it set to fan only, 72 degrees and I was noticing that the heat was stuck on. I turned the system off and turned the fan back on and it still showed that the heat was on. I ended up driving the rest of the way with the system turned off.

[Henry_FL]

I believe this is caused by the auto-defrost setting

You can turn this off by pressing the config button, select Vehicle on the bottom, select climate and then un check auto defrost

In the posted picture, the defrost Icon is indicating it is ON

[rmi63]

After looking at the owner's manual, this setting may be the problem: Auto Defog: The system will monitor high humidity inside the vehicle. When high humidity is detected, the climate control system may adjust to outside air supply and turn on the air conditioner or the heater. The fan speed may slightly increase to help prevent fogging. When high humidity is no longer detected, the system will return to its prior operation. To turn Auto Defog off or on, see “Climate and Air Quality” under Vehicle Personalization on page 5‑53.

I checked my setting and it was turned on.

[Killerfred]

Good find. I'll try that out. Hopefully that will solve my mystery.

Does anyone have a baseline for what the percentage _should_ be for fan only, speed 1?

[Killerfred]

After looking at the owner's manual, this setting may be the problem: Auto Defog: The system will monitor high humidity inside the vehicle. When high humidity is detected, the climate control system may adjust to outside air supply and turn on the air conditioner or the heater. The fan speed may slightly increase to help prevent fogging. When high humidity is no longer detected, the system will return to its prior operation. To turn Auto Defog off or on, see “Climate and Air Quality” under Vehicle Personalization on page 5‑53.

I checked my setting and it was turned on.

I assume if you turn this off that it will still defog when in 'ECO' or 'COMFORT'? Any thoughts?

[Krellion]

Does anyone have a baseline for what the percentage _should_ be for fan only, speed 1?

I usually see 3-4% at that setting.