DRIPPING WET ! With Condensation.

[BruceT]

I don't have a problem with condensation when it's just me in the car, when the wife is in the car it's a different matter, I've tried to get her to hold her breath for 2 hours, alas.............

 

[Phil Hayward]

I have never needed to use the demister. I leave the boot or windows open on a nice day.
The moisture you breath out collects in cold places, the air con will dry the car interior.
In wet weather I open a window a little and turn the fan speed up for the last half mile.
My windows mist up using recirculation in short time.

 

[Sue H]

My ZS EV often had considerable condensation on all windows, which is annoying when wanting to jump in the car and go somewhere quickly as I had to wait to demist for several minutes. I then bought a couple of reusable silica gel pads from eBay 2 x CAR DEHUMIDIFIER BAG REUSABLE SILICA GEL PAD MOISTURE DAMP ABSORBER 5054667810668 | eBay for £7.99 the pair. The difference is amazing, I can now just jump in the car and drive with no wasted time and importantly, energy. Best £7.99 I have spent on car accessories ever!

Thanks for the info about the dehumidifier bags from eBay, I've just ordered some.

 

[BruceT]

I found these ones too, but in a 2 pack with the anti-slip mats for the dash. These are the ones I've gone for.

Amazon product ASIN B083M892KV

 

[Deleted member 3150]

I have now owned 3 brand new SAIC MGs

• ZS 1L petrol - aircon found to be 30% deflated - slight improvement after but bad misting winter mornings that would not clear quickly on demist settings (5 mins) window grime build up very quickly requiring constant cleaning
• ZS EV - bad misting requiring microfibre cloth as so damp it ran down the windscreen
• HS PHEV - yep mists up same as the others

conclusion, if you buy a budget car you get a budget car. Both aircon and heater are below par, but still think great vfm. Anyway this little gadget works for me Car Windshield Clean Wiper Cleaner Telescoping Glass Window Cleaning Brush Tool | eBay

 

[BruceT]

I found these ones too, but in a 2 pack with the anti-slip mats for the dash. These are the ones I've gone for.

Amazon product ASIN B083M892KV

Ordered these yesterday afternoon, on the doorstep at 9 this morning..... 'that'll do'

 

[BruceT]

I saw this and I thought of you lot.

 

[MoDolph]

Last winter i left quite a damning thread regarding my shocking condensation problem, BUT last winter the car was new to me and my first ev and i was freezing my nuts off trying to squeeze every mile of range possible . ie only using the heater when absolutely necessary etc.this year the newness has worn off and i leave the heater on most of the time and usually start my journey in N and drop to Eco when the cabin is nice and toasty .i never use AC in cold months as i never did with my ICE cars .yes the range has dropped and i have to charge more often ,but the bottom line is that i now have no real problem with condensation ..so i now believe its down to driver choices with hvac settings and not the cars fault

This. I used to be the same, I had the dehumidifier bags and even used the work microwave to recharge them, such was my commitment to free charging.

Now I just get in and have the heat blasting. Eventually the car dries out and, if you need to, you can get much longer without heat before it starts fogging which is useful when you have to hypermile to make a destination.

If you like it cool and want to save energy I found on mild humid days it's best to run both the heat and a/c pointing at the glass on the lowest fan setting but quite a high heat setting with recirculate on. For cold but dry days I turn off recirculate and only use heat. This is in the LEAF with a heat pump though so it might be different in the ZS.

 

[Chrisjk]

Thanks everyone. Helpful comments and nice to hear it’s not just my car. I have a gel pack in the car but it doesn’t seem to work well

 

[Tim Falkiner]

I live in Melbourne and on the MG ZS EV Owners Australia Facebook page there is a post and discussion re condensation. The situation seems to disappear if you use the air conditioner and through-flow ventilation. The car dries out and stays dry. One person posted, "Doesn't help that if you use a blast of A/C to defog, when you turn the A/C off again the car turns on recirculating air, which makes makes it fog up again immediately." which is worth noting.

 

[sido]

One thing to say is that the capacity of the heater and circulation system is capable of keeping misting within safe limits. I don’t have the bags which a Kithmo uses and I don’t pay much attention to effect on battery levels As I plan ahead and rarely get below 30% before recharging to 100%. I am still getting an average of just under 3 mile per KW hr during the winter and still loving it.

 

[Tim Green]

I have written this note before.....pressing the demist button (left hand side) turns on the fan on high and the aircon and directs the air to the screen and applies some heat. It works really well. The thing to note is that it is still possible to turn down the fan speed and use the car in that mode. As far as I know, this is the only way to have heat and aircon working together - which is much the best way to control condensation. However, it is a bit hard on the GOM value!

 

[sido]

I have written this note before.....pressing the demist button (left hand side) turns on the fan on high and the aircon and directs the air to the screen and applies some heat. It works really well. The thing to note is that it is still possible to turn down the fan speed and use the car in that mode. As far as I know, this is the only way to have heat and aircon working together - which is much the best way to control condensation. However, it is a bit hard on the GOM value!

I think being able to see where I am going is a lot more important than GOM readouts, very helpful note for those not familiar with the system, Tim, and for me when you first posted.