Tips for Parking in REALLY Hot Garage

[Buster1]

Hi guys. Well it's my first summer in Vegas with the Tesla. Temps are now averaging 105+ F and it's going to continue to get hotter for the next three months.

What are you hot climate guys/gals doing for home garage parking? Any tips or tricks?

We always "vent" the garages and side door, and I have a large fan that helps blow out heat from the cars, but it's still 100+ in there and overnight too when things must be sealed up.

A few questions:
1. Do you leave the Tesla windows down to help cool the cabin (my cabin seems to get hot charging with windows up).
2. Is it better to leave the windows up as the Cabin Overheat protection might kick on? (will it do this while plugged in?)

Any advice you have on hot overnight garages is appreciated! Thanks!

 

[mrbulk]

I am in same boat, just picked up my 75D in March and it’s certainly warm!
Personally I leave my car windows up and count on the overheat protection to keep up.
It has not exceeded mid-90’s anyway (so far) so it has not even had to kick on (I believe it trips on at 105°F?).

 

[ucmndd]

Honestly the car is perfectly fine in the heat.

I park out of the sun and actually keep cabin overheat protection OFF because when it's really roasting here it can chew through a big chunk of the battery over the course of a normal workday (like nearly 10% over 8-9 hours). I don't feel the need to waste that much energy and cycle the AC compressor that much, especially given the ~$3500+ out of pocket compressor replacement cost quoted by others here. I have nothing small and alive in the house that might accidentally cook if I leave it in the car.

 

[Brettski]

I'm a new owner, wondering the same. My garage temp can hit 115 in the summer.
In my brief experience, it seems as though the battery cooling system comes on every so often as well.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I ran into a similar issue in Nebraska last summer. I parked my S in my father's garage and it was probably close to 100 that night. I plugged it in and charging started and I added 25 miles or so. I checked again later and found I had lost all of those miles. The A/C was running and the garage seemed even hotter. It seemed like the car was stuck in a loop, trying to cool down in the hot garage and the hotter it got, the more it tried to cool it down.

I opened the garage door to try to get some ventilation and eventually things cooled down and I was able to charge. I'd be curious to know how others handle this.

 

[Haxster]

I ran into a similar issue in Nebraska last summer. I parked my S in my father's garage and it was probably close to 100 that night. I plugged it in and charging started and I added 25 miles or so. I checked again later and found I had lost all of those miles. The A/C was running and the garage seemed even hotter. It seemed like the car was stuck in a loop, trying to cool down in the hot garage and the hotter it got, the more it tried to cool it down.

I opened the garage door to try to get some ventilation and eventually things cooled down and I was able to charge. I'd be curious to know how others handle this.

This reminds me of an incident at a prestigious test & measurement company in the late 60s. Still in the vacuum tube era. They built a large custom burn-in chamber to test out the first hand-built, very expensive prototypes of an advanced new product.

After being placed in the chamber and powered on, they set the temperature in the chamber and left for the day. When they returned the next morning, all of the prototypes were totally fried.

The "burn-in" chamber had a well regulated heater, but no cooler. Oops!

 

[Don TLR]

The garage shouldn't get as hot without an ice car parking in it after a commute. Mine is cooler with one less heat source but I don't worry so much in 110+ temps, just leave it plugged in and forget about it. Luckily Its in a garage all day at work also so its getting some relief from the heat when at the office..

 

[Darmie]

Does the over heat protection just vent the car via the fans only or does the A/C compressor actually come on?

 

[Haxster]

How about leaving overheat protection off and installing a cheap window/wall AC in your garage and set it to, say, 90 degrees?

Way cheaper than a new Tesla compressor. Probably cheaper to run and no risk of thermal runaway. Plus, if set to a lower temperature, it would make your garage more comfortable to be in.

 

[Haxster]

Does the over heat protection just vent the car via the fans only or does the A/C compressor actually come on?

The compressor comes on.

 

[P85_DA]

In garage plug your car in and let it manage itself

 

[demundus]

Honestly the car is perfectly fine in the heat.

I park out of the sun and actually keep cabin overheat protection OFF because when it's really roasting here it can chew through a big chunk of the battery over the course of a normal workday (like nearly 10% over 8-9 hours). I don't feel the need to waste that much energy and cycle the AC compressor that much, especially given the ~$3500+ out of pocket compressor replacement cost quoted by others here. I have nothing small and alive in the house that might accidentally cook if I leave it in the car.

You know what else costs 3500? The MCU that leaks and overheats... not sure which is the lesser of 2 evils. I've been VERY on the fence about my opinions on overheat, considering its just one mechanical trade off for another...

 

[Brettski]

Not that this should be beat to deat

How about leaving overheat protection off and installing a cheap window/wall AC in your garage and set it to, say, 90 degrees?

Way cheaper than a new Tesla compressor. Probably cheaper to run and no risk of thermal runaway. Plus, if set to a lower temperature, it would make your garage more comfortable to be in.

Good point, I've been considering this as well. It just goes a bit against being "green" for me........
I've had cars in there for a long time - it's just that no other car has shown me by app how hot it is inside! I consider it acute awareness of a chronic problem.

 

[MP3Mike]

I think a window AC unit is over kill you just need a good vent in the roof/ceiling to allow the heat to get out. (It helps to put a vent hole/screen somewhere low to allow a nice convection air exchange. (If it is really bad you could get one of the vents with a temperature controlled fan to circulate air.)

 

[X Fan]

Have a dehumidifier in my Naples home garage plus many of my neighbors air condition their space with split systems (isolate from home ac).

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I think a window AC unit is over kill you just need a good vent in the roof/ceiling to allow the heat to get out. (It helps to put a vent hole/screen somewhere low to allow a nice convection air exchange. (If it is really bad you could get one of the vents with a temperature controlled fan to circulate air.)

We have a temperature controlled fan on our garage and it does a good job of keeping the temperature down. In addition, we have high ceilings so the hot air can go up. In my father's garage, there was no fan and no high ceilings so the hot air was just trapped in it.

 

[ewoodrick]

While a garage may get a little warm it

1. Is a lot cooler than parked outside in direct sunlight
2. Is a lot cooler than pulling an ICE into the garage (A few hundred pounds of steel at 200+ degrees can severely raise a room temperature)

Parking at home in a garage is actually the last place that I'd worry about.

 

[Haxster]

I've had cars in there for a long time - it's just that no other car has shown me by app how hot it is inside!.

And don't ever take a tour of a hot dog factory.

 

[Haxster]

I think a window AC unit is over kill you just need a good vent in the roof/ceiling to allow the heat to get out. (It helps to put a vent hole/screen somewhere low to allow a nice convection air exchange. (If it is really bad you could get one of the vents with a temperature controlled fan to circulate air.)

When it's 105 degrees outside, a vent won't be much help in cooling the garage below that temperature. Or am I missing something?

 

[Brettski]

When it's 105 degrees outside, a vent won't be much help in cooling the garage below that temperature. Or am I missing something?

Actually, guys - my summer outside temp hits 115+ - even higher in the garage. I do have two vents that are down low. The easiest and least expensive solution is evaporative cooling (aka swamp cooler) because the humidity is 15% or less and very amenable to that.

Until or unless I do that - I'm going with "a plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla" and let it take care of itself with battery cooling and maybe cabin overheat protection.