I know on normal heated seats an electric heat pad of some nature is used. On the heated and cooled seats is the heat generated by an electric heat pad also or is it blown in hot air just like the cooling? With a diesel in the winter I want to make sure my butt is warm even if the truck hasn't heated up yet.😀

 

The heated seats work like an electric hot pad with a heating element. They heat very quickly in my estimation. The cooling on the seats involves a fan under the seat that blows air over a heat exchanger element connected to the AC system. It takes a couple of minutes longer to notice it is working.

 

That's not quite true. The seats use Peltier/Thermoelectric Plates. So it blows both hot and cold air. There is a module in the seat bottom and one in the seat back. They basically consist of a fan that blows over a Peltier plate. The plate can become hot or cold depending on the polarity. That's the simple explanation anyway.

 

Mine got so hot today I had to turn them off, was wearing a T shirt and regular shirt over that. I had it on high. Its damn near as hot as my heating pad at home for my back.

 

The seats operate exactly as my Stingray seats do, actually.. The fan comes on for the "cooled" seats, however, the fan DOES NOT come on for heat. This is especially apparent in the 17 super duty as the fan for the seats is pretty loud and you can easily tell if its on or not. I wish it was using a Petier device, as the heat woudl be a bit more even and you could warm yourself without getting too hot, i have to turn it down a bit after a while.

 

The day I picked mine up I had the driver seat on low and I was pretty comfy on a 30 degree day. I had turned the passenger side on (no passenger) just to make sure everything was working. I had it on high for the 20 minute ride home from the dealer. By the time I got home the folder I had sitting on the seat was extremely warm! I would say these seats work well on the heat setting and have a nice range. Start on high till your butt is toasty and kick it down to low as a nice comfortable setting. Just my .02. Not sure how the rear heated seats work yet, but I imagine they perform similar. I may be wrong, but the rear seats may only have two settings...I will have to look at this when I get to my truck.

 

Hmmm my brother and I purchased our trucks at the same time, he was freaking out trying to figure out what a noise was (he purchased 2 lemons recently Ram and Nissan) we determined it was the fan for the heated seats he had the heat turned on. I'm about 80% sure on that. Now he does have a Platinum vs my Lariat.

 

Mine is a Platinum as well. I just went out and listened, definitely no fan that cna be heard (the cooled seat is rather loud(. Potentially the fan comes on at a very low speed that i can't hear it if i put my head near the seat, but there is no way to mistake the sound coming out in the cooled seat setting (quite loud). Perhaps his is operating the cooled seat fan at the same time, or mine is broken. I'd love to hear from others.

 

On my Lariat there is also a noticeable fan sound on the cooled settings but not the heated settings. Only got to use the cooled settings a couple of times on unseasonably warm days, but use the heat settings nearly every morning on the way to work.

 

It would be interesting to know exactly how they do work. I'm sure someone will chime in. But there is definitely no fan on when heat is selected and a fan is on when the cooling is selected.

 

Run them for awhile, the fan doesn't turn on immediately like it does when they are set to cool. Not sure if this is so they have a chance to warm up before blowing? My wife leaves hers on heat all the time and I can definitely hear the fans after awhile.

 

Screwy is correct. These seats, like all Ford / Lincoln heated cooled seats, use a "TED" (Thermo-electric device) to generate the heat and the cold.

These devices generate heat on with polarity on one side, and remove heat with polarity on the opposite side. Pressing the cool button simply switches the polarity on the device.

A fan moves air across the heat sink of the device in both cases and blows this air through ducting up through the perforations on both the seat backrest and base. There may be 2 TEDs in each seat, we haven't determined that fully with this model yet.

The TEDs are more effective at heating than cooling, plus hot air rises. The fan will operate, but at a very low speed (so as not to cool the TED) but still move the air to the perforations.

Cooling uses more airflow to try and be effective.

The heated seat fans sometimes turn up and then down to control temp.

 

Learned something new today. Here's a great demonstration:

 

And this too. I'm pretty sure these demonstrations are using far more power than the Ford seats do but it sure shows the principle clearly. On second thought, I'd better not say I'm sure about anything anymore. This is pretty fancy tech.

 

How long does it take the seats to heat up? Is it as quick as the "heating pad" type or faster? Also does anybody know if the heated cloth seats in the xlt premium have the same heat system? I am thinking they are most likely a heating pad type. Thanks.