Unacceptable Heater Performance

[SteveInBend]

My problem - and please correct me if I am wrong - is that there is no lower (foot) heat circulation.

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[TollKeeper]

Now remember, I have only owned my S for 3 days, and only drove it home from the dealer, and to work today..

That said, my cabin heat has been OK so far. But it came out of the service center inside bay when I got it, and out of my garage this morning.

That said, like @SteveInBend said, I need more heat for my feet! They were cold when I got it, stayed cold for the drive home. Cold this morning, and for the drive to work.

My issue has been finding a good comfortable cabin temp. So far its either to hot or to cool.

 

[Tahoe Man]

Op,
I think you're going to have to take it in to have it looked at. Responses about comparisons with a gas car to what one considers too hot, etc. isn't going to help you.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

My problem - and please correct me if I am wrong - is that there is no lower (foot) heat circulation.

This?

Just tap to turn them on.

 

[SteveInBend]

Guess I was wrong! And maybe it doesn't put out enough heat.

 

[ThumprMN]

Another Minnesota owner here, been in the negative -0f temps (-10 to -15) this week and the heat had been nice and toasty. I usually set the climate to defrost a few minutes before departure and it’s roasty toasty by the time I get in to go. Then I tap off the defrost and it defaults back to my set cabin temps. Has no issues maintaining cabin temp as long as I set it to “Auto”. If I want it quieter in the cab while rocking out to some tunes, I sometimes turn down the blower to the lower setting, but then it does struggle to keep the temp…. Because I’ve overridden its ability to perform as needed to keep the set temp.

Either something is wrong with your heater/vent unit, or you’re not using the settings in a way that can maintain the temp you want.

 

[ThumprMN]

Mid 20's and snowing here in Northern VA. Had to leave the truck outside last night, when I tapped the "fan" button + Defrost button this morning in the app it warmed up from 30-something to 75 degrees in about 20 minutes. App said "Hi". Think it used about 12 miles of "range" to heat up.

Not debating what other folks are posting, just an additional data point. ?

I will say I kind of miss having an "engine" in the front to melt all the snow off the hood. Since the frunk isn't heated, what're folks doing about the pile of snow on the hood? LOL.

I wonder if Rivian could come up with a “Heated Hood and Healights” winter package upgrade. I find the headlights collect ice too easily since they don’t get hot either.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

To be clear, my statement about 20 minutes was in regards to warming up the battery.... Not the cabin.

20 mins should be ample to warm the cabin even at 0F. If you preheated the cabin for 20 min and it was still uncomfortably cold something is wrong.

I was in another thread talking about battery temps. I'm getting cabin and battery heating mixed up tonight ??‍

The battery takes more time to warm up.

 

[R.I.P.]

But these trucks have a resistive heating element, which is basically an electric space heater, to give you instant heat. I didn't think the HVAC in these used any waste heat from the cooling system, like say a car with a heat pump (like Tesla or my Kia)

Correct. They don't.

 

[R.I.P.]

My problem - and please correct me if I am wrong - is that there is no lower (foot) heat circulation.

There is. The lower vent blows out under the dash directly onto your feet. Unfortunately, it's normally not very warm air that it is blowing on your feet lol.

 

[SteveInBend]

There is. The lower vent blows out under the dash directly onto your feet. Unfortunately, it's normally not very warm air that it is blowing on your feet lol.

Yeah, I turned on the floor vents and put my hand down below the dash by the accelerator pedal. There's a small vent that's putting out a bit of warm air. Not really enough for long drives in cold weather.

 

[R.I.P.]

Yeah, I turned on the floor vents and put my hand down below the dash by the accelerator pedal. There's a small vent that's putting out a bit of warm air. Not really enough for long drives in cold weather.

Agreed. My feet tend to get cold.

I found one effective fix is to head to Mexico until things get warmer.
?

 

[ark205]

I am experiencing the same thing. Especially on long drives the heat will give out. My SC was no help nor have updates been helpful.

TIP: turn the defroster on hi (red icon, not the blue) to get the truck to produce heat. You can monitor the temp in the car from the Rivian app, even while moving.

My thread on the same issue:

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...not-kick-on-car-does-not-pre-heat-well.22641/

 

[RivianEC]

There was a thread on this a couple weeks ago and I pulled out my thermal camera and it showed that the air coming out of the vent was mid 80s at the hottest and posted that on here. Most other cars push out air over 100 degrees (F). This was on High. It does feel warmer when my R1T is stopped. We just drove 160 miles today and I had it on High the whole way and had to roll down my sweatshirt sleeves to stay warm (on a tangent, my headlights iced over too, I had to jump out and scrape the ice off).

I noticed a couple days ago that the air coming out of the back seat vent is significantly hotter (like 20 degrees hotter) than the air coming out of the front vents but I haven’t yet had a chance to use the thermal camera on that to confirm what temp the air is. Until Rivian fixes this, maybe turn the rear vents on too (mine remain off because my kids frequently tell me they’re hot back there).

 

[Roger.Joys]

Mine warmed up just fine in -13 and 30mph blowing. I would submit a ticket. That sounds off to me.

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