I took delivery of a model 3 long range one week ago. Every time I drive it, even for 5-10 miles there is a River of water under the car after about 10 minutes of parking. I have a service appointment on 11/23 but a conversation with a service advisor indicates they’re going to tell me it’s normal. I’ve spoken with several other Tesla owners and they say they often get a small puddle but not a stream. I’ve gotten on my hands and knees and watched it and at times it drips and other times it literally pours. I’m photographing and videoing evidence but would appreciate any thoughts.
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Excessive ac condensation
- Thread starter Marsha55
- Start date
Shelburne
Member
I'd suggest putting a container on the ground where the liquid exits the car. First make sure it is just water. From what I've read the only liquids in a Tesla are brake fluid, windshield wiper fluid and a glycol based fluid similar to antifreeze that is used as a battery coolant. Obviously there is a finite amount of each of these liquids. If it's battery coolant or brake fluid that would be a serious problem. But you should be able to tell at a glance or a sniff if it is anything other than water.
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ucmndd
Well-Known Member
It's not like there's a valve or something that Tesla can adjust to change the amount of condensate. If there's a lot of moisture in the air (like there is say shortly after a historic rainfall event) it's going to come out when you run the AC. You're wasting your time bringing it in.
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Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru would like to purchase your Tesla immediately! They have some droids to barter with.
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Gauss Guzzler
Safety Score = 42
If it feels oily between your fingers or looks blue when soaked into a paper towel it's coolant and must be repaired immediately.
Otherwise don't worry about it. Tesla's do a lot of cabin dehumidification so it's normal to have much more water drainage than your old fossil car. 2021 models will often run the heat and A/C simultaneously to dehumidify without cooling so you'll see puddles even in moderate temperatures where you didn't even know the A/C was running.
Otherwise don't worry about it. Tesla's do a lot of cabin dehumidification so it's normal to have much more water drainage than your old fossil car. 2021 models will often run the heat and A/C simultaneously to dehumidify without cooling so you'll see puddles even in moderate temperatures where you didn't even know the A/C was running.
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Gauss Guzzler
Safety Score = 42
The heat pump *can* cool the battery but I think it only does so if the battery is extremely hot, like during a track run. But at any rate, there's not much exposed cold piping between the pump and the battery to collect water anyway.
Many modern cars have trouble with mildew growth on the A/C evaporator causing cabin odors and Tesla is no exception. Volvo for example runs the cabin fan in what they call "afterblow" mode for 50 minutes after the car is parked to reduce this mildew growth, but Tesla takes it a few steps further by running the fan, the heater, and the A/C all together to dehumidify for as long as it takes. They can do this because it hardly uses any power, but the result is a surprisingly large puddle.
Many modern cars have trouble with mildew growth on the A/C evaporator causing cabin odors and Tesla is no exception. Volvo for example runs the cabin fan in what they call "afterblow" mode for 50 minutes after the car is parked to reduce this mildew growth, but Tesla takes it a few steps further by running the fan, the heater, and the A/C all together to dehumidify for as long as it takes. They can do this because it hardly uses any power, but the result is a surprisingly large puddle.
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Thank you all for your responses. Interesting twist, I took it on a road trip today, about 125 miles. No River under my car at the end. Curious, but I’m going to follow the advice of Shelburne and capture the spillage so it can be measured and analyzed when I‘m back home if it continues
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Does the model 3 really dehumidify after you park? I’ve never heard my car do it. Also, there are many people (myself included) who have funky smelling ac systems after less than a year of ownership that requires cleaning the condenser coils to resolve the issue…so is the system not working properly in those cases?
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Gauss Guzzler
Safety Score = 42
Yes, all Teslas do weird things with pumps and fans when parked but on the 2021+ in particular you may notice much more activity as the heat pump needs very little energy to run for this purpose.
Note that running the heat pump in cabin cool mode (to collect moisture) generates heat, and much of that heat can be dumped back into the cabin heater for a net-zero temperature change. It's very efficient.
Earlier models do much less mold control, possibly just running the cabin fan for a while like a fossil car. When they run the A/C, heat gets sent into the radiator requiring the fan and coolant pump to run at appropriate speeds while the electric toaster oven coils need to fire up to keep the cabin from chilling.
Note that running the heat pump in cabin cool mode (to collect moisture) generates heat, and much of that heat can be dumped back into the cabin heater for a net-zero temperature change. It's very efficient.
Earlier models do much less mold control, possibly just running the cabin fan for a while like a fossil car. When they run the A/C, heat gets sent into the radiator requiring the fan and coolant pump to run at appropriate speeds while the electric toaster oven coils need to fire up to keep the cabin from chilling.
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One possible cause:
If the evaporator is running at too low a temperature all the moisture it collects during the drive will freeze to the coil and not drop to the ground. It will all then melt and drip out as the car sits.
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