Condensation On Glass

[agfs]

Can anyone please recommend something that will help to prevent or remove condensation of internal glass surfaces when car is parked for some hours. I have tried wiping with a chamois and a duster but those materials do not absorb the moisture and just leave blobs of water on the inside of the screen and windows that dries and leaves dirty blobs or a film on the glass, visible in sunlight. A/C on high plus de-mist button has very little effect in getting rid of that moizture when it forms.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Use your a/c when out and about in the car. If you leave the climate control on Auto with the a/c light lit then it switches the a/c on and off as required - such as when the interior is too hot but also when the air inside is too damp.

There are many posts on here about the car steaming up yet I don't have an issue with it and I have lots of people in the car all the time. The a/c on the Prius is MUCH more efficient than in a 'normal' car so it hardly uses any extra fuel.

[acetip]

Use your a/c when out and about in the car. If you leave the climate control on Auto with the a/c light lit then it switches the a/c on and off as required - such as when the interior is too hot but also when the air inside is too damp.

There are many posts on here about the car steaming up yet I don't have an issue with it and I have lots of people in the car all the time. The a/c on the Prius is MUCH more efficient than in a 'normal' car so it hardly uses any extra fuel.

why is the a/c more efficiet on a prius.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Use your a/c when out and about in the car. If you leave the climate control on Auto with the a/c light lit then it switches the a/c on and off as required - such as when the interior is too hot but also when the air inside is too damp.

There are many posts on here about the car steaming up yet I don't have an issue with it and I have lots of people in the car all the time. The a/c on the Prius is MUCH more efficient than in a 'normal' car so it hardly uses any extra fuel.

why is the a/c more efficiet on a prius.

I'll give you the quick explanation - the a/c compressor is driven by the big High Voltage Battery and not belt driven direct from the engine as in a traditional car. The latest gen3 2009 onwards Prius is a beltless engine - electric steering, electric a/c, the 12v Battery is charged via the inverter etc. Surprisingly the Prius is much much more efficient in the summer than winter time as the a/c doesn't affect the mpgs to any significant way. Trouble is, the heater saps mpg's in winter in that the engine has to run a little more to warm the coolant in the radiator to heat the cabin.

[kithmo]

Mine is the same, I even had frost on the inside yesterday morning. This is by far the dampest car I have ever owned. The demister takes ages to clear the screen, wasting fuel. I've tried AC on and AC off it doesn't make any difference. I tried cleaning the inside of the screen and it made it very slightly better. Even recirculating the cabin air off or on doesn't make any difference.

I have to admit though, I do a very short commute to work (3 miles) and the car doesn't get fully warmed, I think Grumpy Cabbie's probably doesn't suffer from it because it's always in use and gets the cabin warmed up well. I have turned ECO mode off now, as I believe this tones down the heating somewhat and I've set the temp to "HI" this seems to have eased the situation a bit today, although the consumption has dropped to 46mpg cos the engine is nearly always on.

[timberwolf]

You could try some portable dehumidifiers?

I bought some rechargeable dehumidifiers, but I can't comment on whether they work or not because I haven't used the car for a while.

[flow]

I've had the same problem for a while - Rear window icing up inside, bad fogging up on the windscreen.

I think there was another post recently about this.

My A/C is on all the time, i've retracted the parcel shelf incase its damp under there - I'd say its the design of the car but, some people have the problem yet some dont.

[Mkuk0]

Had my Gen 2 just over 2 years now,and apart from a little 'fogging' on the inside when its icy outside, like this morning, I have had no problems at all, when I started the car this morning, AC on, set to clear screen, it cleared while I was scraping the outside, Job Done!

[Jan&tone]

I wonder if the interior misting up is down to the lack of 'forced' ventilation now, at one time you used to get fresh air into the car just by driving along, but it seems now with the advent of 'auto' and 'climate control' this old fashioned ventilation is no longer available

[agfs]

Thanks for your replies, mes amis. My problem occurs mainly when the car has been parked in a station car park for several hours and I return to it after dark. I really don't think I can keep the a/c running for 9 hours while the car is parked. Would leaving one window slightly open make a difference - evening out the temperatures between the interior and exterior as condensation is usually caused by warm moisture in the air adhering to a cold surface and forming droplets ?

[Jan&tone]

Thanks for your replies, mes amis. My problem occurs mainly when the car has been parked in a station car park for several hours and I return to it after dark. I really don't think I can keep the a/c running for 9 hours while the car is parked. Would leaving one window slightly open make a difference - evening out the temperatures between the interior and exterior as condensation is usually caused by warm moisture in the air adhering to a cold surface and forming droplets ?

In all honesty mate, I wouldn't leave any car parked with the window open - even a fraction - give a thief an inch, and your car will be gone!!!

- on that note, I've often wondered how many Prius have actually been stolen, or have the scroats got in, found no gear leaver where they were expecting one and bu**ered off.??

[kithmo]

I wonder if the interior misting up is down to the lack of 'forced' ventilation now, at one time you used to get fresh air into the car just by driving along, but it seems now with the advent of 'auto' and 'climate control' this old fashioned ventilation is no longer available

There is some degree of airflow on the Prius when the Climate is off. I found this out in summer when SWMBO had the temp set to "HI" one evening on her Gen 2 and the next day, with the Climate off, our feet were getting quite warm. I tried this on my Gen3 and it's the same, set temp to HI then turn climate off and warm air flows to the footwells when moving.

[Jan&tone]

I wonder if the interior misting up is down to the lack of 'forced' ventilation now, at one time you used to get fresh air into the car just by driving along, but it seems now with the advent of 'auto' and 'climate control' this old fashioned ventilation is no longer available

There is some degree of airflow on the Prius when the Climate is off. I found this out in summer when SWMBO had the temp set to "HI" one evening on her Gen 2 and the next day, with the Climate off, our feet were getting quite warm. I tried this on my Gen3 and it's the same, set temp to HI then turn climate off and warm air flows to the footwells when moving.

Thanks for that, I'll try it - what temperature did you actually set the climate control at?

[johalareewi]

Have had hard frost and inside condensation the last couple of mornings which required a fair bit of running the engine and AC to shift. Got me thinking about how would pure EV cars cope with this without draining the Battery?

[johalareewi]

Thanks for that, I'll try it - what temperature did you actually set the climate control at?

It says the temp was set to HI (just keep pressing TEMP UP until the display says HI.

There is also a LO in the other direction.

[Jan&tone]

Thanks for that, I'll try it - what temperature did you actually set the climate control at?

It says the temp was set to HI (just keep pressing TEMP UP until the display says HI.

There is also a LO in the other direction.

thanks for that I've only ever had to have the blower on one bar and the temp is usually at 19.5.. I'll try the above and see what happens!

[agfs]

Further to leaving the widow slightly open, the local Mr.T's service chap says the if there is a gust of wind it coukld set off the alarm ! He recommends setting a/c, temperature and blower to 'high' nd await results. The idea being to dry up the moisture using hot air. No idea as to how long that would take.

There seems to have been a film of some kind on the glass (? cigarette smoke) that took a fair bit of elbow grease to remove.

[kithmo]

Have had hard frost and inside condensation the last couple of mornings which required a fair bit of running the engine and AC to shift. Got me thinking about how would pure EV cars cope with this without draining the battery?

Pre-heated whilst plugged in.

[johalareewi]

Further to leaving the widow slightly open, the local Mr.T's service chap says the if there is a gust of wind it coukld set off the alarm !

Turn the intruder alarm off to stop this. On gen3 this is in the interior lights cluster of buttons on the ceiling. After turning the power off, press the button. The MFD will say intruder alarm off and you can now wander off with your windows open and no alarms.

[jonbee56]

I suffered very badly on the inside of the glass & even to the extent of spraying deicer within the cabin to get rid of the ice. My commute run is only 3 miles to the station each day which is not far enough to warm up. After sitting in an open car park for about 10-11 hours I have the same 3 mile to get home.

I systematically put the A/C on full blast directing the air through the dashboard vents each morning regardless of any condensation at the time, and after a week I didn't have a problem. It appears that there may be some inherent problem causing residual moisture in the cabin, but since I caused a complete air changeover within the car it appears that the A/C has dried it out.

[flow]

I'm starting to think (as johnbee's post above) that a combination of driving in eco mode & very short journeys are the main cause of these fogging problems.

I've spent the last few days in normal/power mode, with the temp set to high, to see if that cures or helps the problem.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I'd really suggest not using Eco mode if your journey is only 3 miles! Not sure if you know but it restricts the output of the a/c and heating - esp when you are stopped in traffic. If the weather is cold and you have a journey of less than 10 miles keep it in 'normal' mode.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I'd really suggest not using Eco mode if your journey is only 3 miles! Not sure if you know but it restricts the output of the a/c and heating - esp when you are stopped in traffic. If the weather is cold and you have a journey of less than 10 miles keep it in 'normal' mode.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I'd really suggest not using Eco mode if your journey is only 3 miles! Not sure if you know but it restricts the output of the a/c and heating - esp when you are stopped in traffic. If the weather is cold and you have a journey of less than 10 miles keep it in 'normal' mode.

[kithmo]

I've spent the last few days in normal/power mode, with the temp set to high, to see if that cures or helps the problem.

That's what I've done in the last week and it seems to have done the trick.