How does cabin heating work?

[jwrezz]

Y'all must be deaf or not driving in truly cold weather. In the truck it is much louder than the blower when using Auto modes

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[Traconesu]

OK this thread is going off the rails. We've established that the heat pump setup doesn't heat as well, and that many owners have complained about it. Then immediately the convo turns to how the heat pump setup is more efficient and makes heat better. So which is it?

I can tell you which it is on my June 2025 build truck.....it's worse. If I have to set the temp to 75F or higher just to knock the chill off in the truck with a 42F ambient temp, what's it going to be like at -5F? My goodness....

My 2022 platinum heat has worked great for me. Of course I am pretty happy with just the seats and steering wheel after I've set my departure which preheats my cab using the grid. Once I'm on the road I normally turn off cabin heat unless it is super cold.

 

[P-38]

50° is not cold. 32° is when you say it's freezing. 0° is cold and -10° is ____ing cold. Glad it only gets that cold about 1 day a year for me

You can hear it upto about 30mph, 40 if you listen close if listening to podcast or between songs.

 

[jwrezz]

Do you often drive slow enough and with the stereo off to be able to hear it? Also maybe they changed something for the 25 YM?

In a parking lot. Quiet radio. Yeah. And I have a 24.

 

[jwrezz]

I didn't say it's a problem. It's not. At all. It's still way more quiet than any ICE vehicle I've driven. It's because the EV is so quiet to begin with, that I am able to notice it. And again, it's not a problem, and I don't think anyone is saying that it is. Just that it's noticeable. Oh, and you can get a shorter antenna.

 

[jwrezz]

Not pointing fingers at any one person, fact of the matter is there are people complaining and it's almost comical.

FYI: I put a shorter antenna on both my trucks, not for clearance issues. Aesthetic reasons.

No one, in this thread, has complained about it being too loud. I think we've got way off topic tho.

 

[mr.Magoo]

As an aside, the lack of a remote start on the key is very frustrating. Fortunately I have the truck linked to Home Assistant to it's easy enough for me to trigger the climate control to turn on remotely from a physical button by the door, but the key fob remote start on my last F-150 was so convenient.

https://www.f150lightningforum.com/...start-from-the-oem-key-fob-no-fordpass.14415/

 

[Rip]

Efficiency. Heat pumps are MUCH more efficient at making heat in most weather conditions.

That can change in VERY cold environments (aka our friends to the way way north. Not your climate)

I live in Maine; it does get cold here; maybe not as cold as when I lived in Minnesota. In Minnesota, though, it was a DRY cold. Here in Downeast it's a damp cold. I bought my 24 Lightning at the end of 24, so from the discussion I guess I have a heat pump. I also heat my house with heat pumps. Even in sub-zero temps here, both my house and my truck seem to do OK. I don't think I've ever had to turn the heat up on the truck past 72, even on the coldest nights.
I have had the windshield fog up with the control on auto, but I just kicked it into defrost for a minute to clear it up, and then switched back, and that seems to hold.

 

[jwrezz]

I live in Maine; it does get cold here; maybe not as cold as when I lived in Minnesota. In Minnesota, though, it was a DRY cold. Here in Downeast it's a damp cold. I bought my 24 Lightning at the end of 24, so from the discussion I guess I have a heat pump. I also heat my house with heat pumps. Even in sub-zero temps here, both my house and my truck seem to do OK. I don't think I've ever had to turn the heat up on the truck past 72, even on the coldest nights.
I have had the windshield fog up with the control on auto, but I just kicked it into defrost for a minute to clear it up, and then switched back, and that seems to hold.

Funny thing is, the colder it is outside the lower you can keep your house/truck to make it feel warmer!

 

[jjupi91897]

Bingo.

I can't wait for the winter discussions of heat pump vs no heat pump trucks. Our 2022 heats great. I believe heat pump owners will not be happy with what I expect to be:

- slower heat
- noisier heat
- vibration

Yes, my 2023 Lightning's heat works great also.

 

[tls]

What I want to do is simply defog the windshield, which requires dry air. In other words, compressor should be on. Doesn't matter at all which vents the air is coming out of, as long as it's conditioned air.

No. When a heat pump is *heating* the conditioned space, no condensation and thus no dehumidification happens at the air handler coils. It happens *outside* where the air is being cooled to extract heat for the conditioned space. That's why low temperature heat pumps require condensate pan heaters at the outdoor unit.

 

[tls]

Yes, have to use the A/C button to provide conditioned, dry air into the cabin for defogging. Works great, even on the Lightning.

I guess my main point is that it seems that on my '25 Flash, the "Auto" setting does not use the A/C automatically when there is moisture in the cabin and fog on the inside of the windshield. To me this seems very odd, and it's the first vehicle (out of 30+) that I've had that behaves this way. I guess this winter I'll just turn "Auto" off and use the controls manually.

My gripe with "Auto" on both our Lightning and our Mach Es is that it puts no air to the back seat, so in a full car the back seat passenger roasts or freezes. Someone made some dumb choices about this stuff at Ford.

Heat on the heat-pump Mach E seems to work just as well as on the older one. Unlike the F150, the heat pump Mach E loses pretty much the whole frunk, which is unforthnate.

 

[Rip]

Yes, my 2023 Lightning's heat works great also.

I only have experience with my '24, but I haven't had any of those (slow heat, noise or vibration), and I drove it all through a Maine winter. It worked fine.

 

[Vulnox]

I didn't have a pre-Heat Pump Lightning, but so far it's working great. I have been going into the office since Ford did their RTO moves and usually drive in around 5:30AM. I am in Michigan and we have had some 30-40 degree mornings and the truck has been warm and window fog free for the most part, some of the side windows are a little foggy but that was the case with my ICE F-150s as well around this time.

We did have a pre-heat pump Mach-e and the heat worked well on it, but I haven't noticed it work any less with our 2025 heat pump Mach-e in the same conditions.

When taking one of the kids to the bus stop I do think I heard the heat pump going though, it is a bit louder than I expected, but I only heard it while stationary. I have never heard it when driving in to work.

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