The position for heating and defrost levers

[Nick Triesch]

Hi. To make our Carrera AC work at its best, what is the best position for the levers up front? Thank you.

[Nick Triesch]

Sorry , picture is sideways. I posted correct .

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by Nick Triesch

Hi. To make our Carrera AC work at its best, what is the best position for the levers up front? Thank you.

black is outside air from the cowl at the base of the winshield, red is heaed air from the engine heat exchangers

all the way right is air out the dash top/front vents, all the way left is air out the foot wells

the top controls the volume, left for minimum, right for maximum w/ a fan boost

best depends on need, usually heat for feet and fresh for face is best in my book

[HarryD]

While Bill's explanation is technically very good, there is this as well:

We do have the factory explanation as well (Thanks to RWebb):

It goes like this:

"There have been several questions about this recently, so I thought I would post the Official Factory Explanation:

Subject: RE: Heat Control FAQ for Pooschey


Q: I just bought a Pooschey 911 and can't figure out how to make the heater work -- or the fresh air either. Can you help me?

A: Sure, I can help you. The ventilation system requires that you operate 4 levers to make it work. 3 of the levers are on the dash, and the other is between the seats on newer Pooscheys there are 2 levers between the seats).

The top lever on the dash actually does several different things (remember, it is a fiendish German device, just like the rest of the car). Pushing it to the middle opens the dust ports leading to the windshield (see below for operation of fogging machine and oil mist spray device). Pushing it to the right past the middle also activates the rattling noise-maker device. There are three loudness levels to choose from. Pushing the lever all the way to the left is used to jam the cable so unauthorized personnel cannot operate any of the devices above. The lever also enables the automatic heat exchanger signalling device -- when opening it spews rust particles on the windshield, you should replace the heat exchangers. Also, if opening it causes you to immediately turn blue or purple (not just hair, but skin color) and become unconscious, you (or your estate) should definitely replace the heat exchangers.

The second lever from the top controls the lights on the White House Xmas tree. Move it to the middle to turn on the lights, and all the way to the right to fire 4500 Megatons of Nukes at Iraq.

The bottom lever on the dash is used to replace the windshield when it becomes scratched or pitted with rock chips. It also determines how much hot air goes to your feet as opposed to your head. For example, let's say the engine is completely warmed up and the hot air is burning your feet. If it's a cold day, you can flip the lever to the other side and shoot hot air onto the windshield so it cracks and shatters. Then call your insurance company (you do have insurance, don't you?)

The lever between the seats controls the oil mist spray device. When the engine is warmed up, this lever allows you to blow oil mist into the passenger cabin. Using the top dash lever lets you select whether you want the oil mist to coat the inside of the windshield or to just circulate around your feet. On a newer Pooschey, you have 2 levers on the floor between the seats. The left hand lever lets you open the left side vents which are aimed so they burn the feet of the person in the right hand seat, and the right hand lever lets you open the right side vents which are aimed so they burn the feet of the person in the left hand seat. Of course, each lever will also burn just the tops of the feet of the person in the other seat. If you are driving in the rain (or even stopped in the rain after the car has broken down), these levers also let you spray a fog of water vapor on the windshield, so no one can see in or out of the car -- sort of like privacy glass."

[Otter74]

AC system is separate from the fresh air and hot air systems, which are also separate from each other. On/off and volume are controlled only from the two knobs on your console, and I don't know if the blower control between the seats controls AC air (if it's for the footwell blowers, I'm assuming not. I would think you'd want heat off, so red lever to the left, and the position of the other two levers doesn't seem like it would matter since they control fresh air out of the windshield or footwell vents, and AC comes out through the mid-dash vents facing you.

[Larmo63]

I don't want to admit that I've actually consulted the owner's manual to figure out how these levers work and what they do.

Germans invented these?

[GH85Carrera]

For best or max AC, all the levers in the dash to the far left. Heater off, (duh)
AC controls are both knobs all the way clockwise.

Adjust AC knobs to comfort level.

[Hi_Fi_Guy]

I think because of my past cars, 66 Mustang, 70's Fiat Spiders and Porsche 914s these cable operated controls never seemed bizarre to me at all. I guess for people who have only grown up with push buttons and rotary knobs these sliders must seem quite arcane.

[Otter74]

Hifi guy, I also have a Fiat Spider that I've had for about 30 years, and the ventilation controls seemed perpetually inscrutable to me. When I bought my 911 I figured the controls out in about two minutes, and it made me scratch my head because they're not meaningfully different from the Fiat's.

[Hi_Fi_Guy]

When you take the cowl off the Fiat and see the brilliant simplicity of the fresh air system
“snorkels” that probably took all of 5 minutes to design you feel sorry for the German engineers who put hundreds or thousands of ours into the Porsche system.

[Nick Triesch]

Amazing that Porsche made this system of levers with so many fan motors ! Tiny cabin. American cars just have two Rotary dials. One with blue and red on it , turn one way for cool, one way for hot. The other dial with tiny pictures on it for air on face, face and feet , air for defrost. I think the air and heating controls were so horrible on the air cooled cars because of their rear engine Layout.