Trying to get to grips with T7 PHEV Aux Heater

[MikeCW]

We’ve just done our first night away in our new PHEV T7 California Ocean. It was -1’C outside…Plugged into mains, full tank of fuel, we set the auxiliary heater to continuous operation. However after 3-4 hours of operation we were tired of the constant rhythmic knocking noise, very light but noticeable and enough to keep us awake. I turn the heater off until I woke 6 hours later, by which point the van was freezing. When I tried to turn the heating on, I immediately got an error saying emissions limit reached and van needed to e driven above 5km/h - no practical at 5 am..

I know that heat immediately gives this message and it may be that I selected heat immediately in my sleep haze and it counted the 4+ hours of continuous operation the previous night, but either way, we were freezing and the heating wouldn’t work in either continuous or heat immediately mode until we had driven then vehicle.

Has anyone else come across this “feature” - my dealer tried to tell me that the heater in either mode is only designed run for a maximum of 3 hours, including the technician, but I have gently suggested he goes back and checks this with VW as I know from other forums that you have to use continuous mode overnight…Is the knocking normal? Has anybody else had the emissions error after using continuous mode?

 

[stoobthealien]

Knocking is normal - that's the pump getting the fuel out of the tank to the heater - I strongly recommend "loop" earplugs - expensive but very good! Otherwise on my diesel T7 as long as I use "heat continuous" it's been fine - had it switched on when parked up at site, switched it off when we went out for the day, then back on again in the evening all night. I wonder if you accidently used heat immediately

 

[MikeCW]

Knocking is normal - that's the pump getting the fuel out of the tank to the heater - I strongly recommend "loop" earplugs - expensive but very good! Otherwise on my diesel T7 as long as I use "heat continuous" it's been fine - had it switched on when parked up at site, switched it off when we went out for the day, then back on again in the evening all night. I wonder if you accidently used heat immediately

Thanks - if i did use heat immediately it was first thing in the morning and it may have counted the 4+hrs of continuous as having been running under het immediately and tripped the emission lockdown.

It seems odd that they have the 3 hours lockout if it will safely run overnight anyway.

Air Pods Pro 3s are now on my packing list…

 

[stoobthealien]

Thanks - if i did use heat immediately it was first thing in the morning and it may have counted the 4+hrs of continuous as having been running under het immediately and tripped the emission lockdown.

It seems odd that they have the 3 hours lockout if it will safely run overnight anyway.

Air Pods Pro 3s are now on my packing list…

No-one is quite sure why they have 2 options, I assumed that it was because the heat immediately was a different heater or something but given it all comes out of the same place it's a mystery

 

[vmaxkiddy]

We’ve just done our first night away in our new PHEV T7 California Ocean. It was -1’C outside…Plugged into mains, full tank of fuel, we set the auxiliary heater to continuous operation. However after 3-4 hours of operation we were tired of the constant rhythmic knocking noise, very light but noticeable and enough to keep us awake. I turn the heater off until I woke 6 hours later, by which point the van was freezing. When I tried to turn the heating on, I immediately got an error saying emissions limit reached and van needed to e driven above 5km/h - no practical at 5 am..

I know that heat immediately gives this message and it may be that I selected heat immediately in my sleep haze and it counted the 4+ hours of continuous operation the previous night, but either way, we were freezing and the heating wouldn’t work in either continuous or heat immediately mode until we had driven then vehicle.

Has anyone else come across this “feature” - my dealer tried to tell me that the heater in either mode is only designed run for a maximum of 3 hours, including the technician, but I have gently suggested he goes back and checks this with VW as I know from other forums that you have to use continuous mode overnight…Is the knocking normal? Has anybody else had the emissions error after using continuous mode?

This may help

Heat Immediately/Heat Continuously - Finally it makes sense!

Ok First off let me be clear - I FULLY understand the difference between these two options and what each one does. What I've failed to grasp before now it the WHY? This is referring to T6.1 It's a perfectly simple request, Turn on the heating. Why on earth does it need two similar functions to...

vwcaliforniaclub.com

 

[Adam8374]

Same with the knocking sound. I got used to it but it's a shame it's not a little quieter.

And the "feature" that forces you to drive your car in the middle of the night is hilarious. But when I use the continuous mode, it works fine.

 

[sidepod]

Same with the knocking sound. I got used to it but it's a shame it's not a little quieter.

And the "feature" that forces you to drive your car in the middle of the night is hilarious. But when I use the continuous mode, it works fine.

That’s because heat immediately is really supposed to be for the water heater (parking heater) which is run off the engine battery hence the requirement to drive it in case you can’t start the engine. Read the linked thread above for an explanation.

 

[PipPip]

We have done one weekend away in our PHEV too in similar temps. We used continuous heating which worked fine. We also switched off overnight though, partly due to the steam engine type chuffing coming from the heating pump in the background, and partly as we thought it might be too warm if we left it on. We actually slept very well but I did switch the heating back on at around 6am as the van was indeed freezing. We didn’t experience any time limit issues but I was careful to use continuous heating rather than immediate heating.

 

[stoobthealien]

We have done one weekend away in our PHEV too in similar temps. We used continuous heating which worked fine. We also switched off overnight though, partly due to the steam engine type chuffing coming from the heating pump in the background, and partly as we thought it might be too warm if we left it on. We actually slept very well but I did switch the heating back on at around 6am as the van was indeed freezing. We didn’t experience any time limit issues but I was careful to use continuous heating rather than immediate heating.

The thermostat does work well to stop it cooking you overnight - we run it on 5 and it's cosy without being overwhelming

 

[blind_oracle]

I have similar (?) problem with my T7 (Diesel, not PHEV). At least two times already at night my heating (continuous one) turned off by itself, w/o any errors or anything it seems.

I wake up freezing, and since I sleep on the 2nd floor, I just use my phone to kick in "Heat Immediately" (why the f*ck I can't turn on the continuous mode from the phone?!) and in the morning I get this fancy "Emission limit reached" crap. Oh yeah, I need to fold my awning, move camping stuff around to please VW and move my car back and forth 30m to get heating back.

Hilarious.