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According to Reader's Digest, if you pour warm water onto the screen to defrost it you should have the wipers operating at the same time. This helps to stop the screen re-freezing.
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Seems rather obvious though it means that you have to carefully prize the wipers from the screen so in part defeats the object.
However it is so easy to crack the screen if the water is too warm, so bad advice IMO irrespective of whether the wipers are on or off.
Anyway the Mondeo is Quickclear and while the Clio need a quick scrape across the middle it generates heat very quickly in the area of the wipers thus freeing them very quickly you can be on your way in no time.
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Freezing wipers are an issue on the C8. The hot air strikes the windscreen above the wipers so I don't know how they would fare in falling snow and frosted wipers certainly don't free off on their own. Last week we have variously been using newspapers (AX), fan heater, for that touch of luxury (C3) and an old bath mat (C8, with the wipers parked vertically).
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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A lot of people where I live (especially school run mums!) don't bother. They scratch a 4" square hole in the ice on the screen and don't worry about the rest. When you are on your mobile, you are oblivious to other road users anyway.
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A lot of people where I live (especially school run mums!) don't bother. They scratch a 4" square hole in the ice on the screen and don't worry about the rest. When you are on your mobile you are oblivious to other road users anyway.
That's a BIG hole for some of them I can tell you. We have a local Police Sergeant around here who has a Lucida or some other wagon and he is seen regularly peering through a hole in a misty windscreen. He also pulled straight out of a junction in front of me the other day and just waved apologetically. Actually is he is a complete pink fluffy rice. How he ever got through to Sergeant is beyond many of us. Also seriously addicted to piling huge amounts of money, and I mean huge, into pub fruit machines. Not a crime I know, but something just doesn't add up. Undercover he is not.
MD
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 18/12/2007 at 19:01
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I have this device called a "stand heater" built into my newly acquired W124 Mercedes. It's a separate petrol burning heater which is plumbed into the normal heating system of the car and generates hot air instantaneously when the engine is switched off. It is also fitted with a timer so you set it to switch on 20 minutes before you want to drive the car in which time all the windows have been cleared of ice and snow and the interior is toasty warm. I'm not sure I'll ever want a car without one of these again.
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>I have this device called a "stand heater"
You can really go off some people very quickly
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< Ulla>
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Kenlowe do a 230v engine heater which plumbs into the heater circuit and with the right modifications to the car, can defrost windows from the interior heating vents - I've never bothered getting one though.
Unlike my Astra, my Subaru produces usable heat for defrosting quite quickly and the windscreen has heater elements to stop the wipers freezing.
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Classic example on Sunday morning. Leaving early to do some dog training. 07:00am, -4c, heavy frost, nicolle not wanting to be disturbed so a 10 minute VW diesel warm up is out of the question.
Solution
Kettle of *cold* water thrown over the windscreen, ignition on, wipers on to keep it clear.
Kettlle back in kitchen, climb into car, start engine, leave. 2 minutes total.
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< Ulla>
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"Leaving early to do some dog training"
How is that working for you? Can you bark and lick yourself?
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Always been able to do both BBD, but at least I dont leave a mess on the carpet anymore.
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< Ulla>
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"Leaving early to do some dog training" How is that working for you? Can you bark and lick yourself?
Oh and I have just chewed up your invite to JW's WotW at the O2 Arena.
Such a shame, still some training needed it seems.
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< Ulla>
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Do you drive with your head out of the window and your tongue hanging out?
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and my ears flap at anything above 20 mph
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< Ulla>
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I push a button on my car's dashboard. Ford Quickclear windscreen. :-)
The only problem is that it doesn't seem to work right to the edges of the screen, so I have to scrape those to stop the wipers getting scratched. Does take the hassle out of clearing the windscreen though, and it doesn't re-freeze.
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Am I the only one who uses de-icer...??!
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Am I the only one who uses my garage?
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Thick frost yesterday - took the bus - nature cleared the screen overnight
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possibly UncleR - 5 mins with a 99p scraper from Asda for me. It was minus 5 yesterday morning too.
Edited by normd2 on 18/12/2007 at 16:00
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Chilly fingers!
In fact, pressure gone in de-icer can so it was 5 minutes with a White Stripes CD case for me...
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Accidentally tried cold water the other day. It froze on the screen even when I used the wipers.
Also used a scraper recently. The freezing fog carried on freezing on the screen after I scraped it......
Back to tap hot water for me. Can't bear to think of using de-icer, I used to attribute the body rot of my BMC cars to it. And it pongs.
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This is the only real practical use for the Scenic's hands-free keycard. Not as a scraper, but as an anti theft measure while the car self-defrosts.
Park car right by front door.
Start engine.
Walk back in the house with the keycard. Sit and sup coffee while the car defrosts itself.
If anyone drives the car any more than 2ft, the keycard goes out of range and it stops.
Marvellous!
Cheers
DP
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
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it's illegal in Scotland to leave a car unattended with the engine running.
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I stopped yesterday and waited for a neighbour further down the street to re-emerge from her house, she having jumped out and run back into the house leaving her Avensis running on her driveway as I walked past.
I don't know her, had never met her, but being a good neighbour thought I would point out to her that she'd just given me a minute long opportunity to steal her car. She seemed not the least it interested, with a verging on sarcastic "oh right, fair enough" attitude, even when I pointed out she'd be uninsured.
I won't bother next time.
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> If anyone drives the car any more than 2ft, the keycard goes out of range and it stops.
You sure? have you tested this?
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< Ulla>
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I back my car up to the garage door and using an extension lead, plug in an electric fan heater to the power socket in my garage. I put this in the drivers footwell and lock the car up. Next morning when I come down for breakfast I nip out to the garage and switch the fan on. By the time I go to work - about 45 mins later - the car is warm inside, the ice has all melted and the car is very driveable. 2 Kw's of electricity at most - well worth it.
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sq
why dont you put a timer on the socket and you wouldnt even have to go out to the garage to switch the fan on?
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 18/12/2007 at 16:56
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i've been looking into doing this very thing, buy a cheap, small (ie. 1kw heater) but instead use one of those remote controlled sockets, so I can get up in the morning and get the fan heater going without leaving the house. Assuming the range of the remote is enough to get to the socket in the garage.
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you can get a programmable timer for about 5 nicker
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Gordon M > My neighbour does exactly the same EVERY morning. I always think what a waste of petrol.
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>>...for about 5 nicker..>>
You are paying too much...:-)
tinyurl.com/276nrc (three for £5.99).
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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those things are really annoying as the pins fall out never to be found again,i would recommend a digital one to all those that fancy melting their car interiors with household fires
caveat flame-a**
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Our Renault Migraine never did this, Drive away without the key card and it just beeps at you........mind you even when I drove with the keycard in it still usually beeped at me. Crazy French thing.
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BB that last bit brightened up a gloomy day for me !
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my subaru had summer and winter positioning for the wiper blades.
summer setting and they parked fully down out of sight.
winter setting they parked a couple of inches up the screen directly in the zone where the vent hit the screen.
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If I have an early start on frosty morning, I get my wife to go and defrost my car while she is waiting for the kettle to boil and for me to finish my shower. She then has sufficient time to prepare breakfast while I get dressed.
Or did I just dream all that ?! ;-)
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I got a junkmail flyer last week for a 12v fan heater that recharges from your cig. lighter socket, and I think it had a timer to defrost your windscreen before you left the house.
I threw it away and can't remember which company the mailshot was from.
Just tried to find one online but only found this one which looks similar in the pic but does not have a rechargeable battery: snipurl.com/1vhka
No interest to me as I use the warm water method..
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This comes up every winter. Beware of warm water as the stress on the glass is tremendous and you can crack the screen. Cool water, a bucket and a container to decant the water onto the windows. Leaving you car with the engine running is a RT offence on a public road or public place in the UK not just Scotland as post referred. A scaper, god forbid grinding the dirt into the screen. Regards Peter
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Is the windscreen cracking a bit like "You'll have someone's eye out with that!", ie It never happens?
I have been using HOT water on various cars from £75 heaps to £30k BMWs since 1982 and have NEVER cracked a windscreen yet.
Has anyone *personally* cracked one by using hot water on it or is it just *a friend* who had it happen to them?
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Same here Oily, used hot water out of the tap for over 20 years - no cracks yet.
--
Phil
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I too always use the water from the hot tap approach, and have done for almost twenty years now. I personally have never broken a screen or window using this method, and I don't know anyone who has...
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Neither ours. It would be highly dangerous if it did otherwise, since a fault in the card or a sudden flattening of the battery would cause the engine to cut out. Once the engine is started, it stays on regardless of whether the 'key' is in the vicinity of the car. As BB says, it will bleep but the engine won't stop. If the thief were to stall the engine then the game would be over - they wouldn't be able to start it again. To turn the engine off you have to hold the button in for about five secs.
If DP's behaves as he has described, then he needs to get it looked at urgently. It could be potentially very dangerous.
I don't like these card thingies - give me a good old key any day. A pointless gadget and ours has gone wrong twice and even in its current 'working' state it has bad days.
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I keep a 5 litre old screenwash container in the cloakroom, and fill it with warm tapwater as I leave on icy mornings, and pour over the windows. Works a treat and no cracks, but it's only warm, not piping hot.
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i get up before before i go to bed scrape the ice off before it forms and drive to work before i start the engine
done this for years never had a problem..........
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Are you the one shovelling the snow away before it's fallen as well?
SPOILSPORT.
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Prevention is better than cure,when frost is forecast or likely a dust sheet put over the car which sits on the drive,ensures a quick and clear start in the morning.
ndbw
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Sold my car, cured all frozen windscreen issues!
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Not sure anyone will believe this but the present Mrs P goes out every morning before I drive of to work and clears all the windows for me - none of this 4" square stuff either - the whole lot is done properly so clearing screens has never really been a problem for me either.
I have just got to find a way she can warm up that daft aluminium gear knob in the Accord - its freezing in the winter and red hot in the summer.
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I'll never forget this little vignette seen from a passing bus.
It was in Edmonton, Canada, about -30 degrees Fahrenheit.
A car owner on the side of the road, apparently intent on making short work of de-icing his windshield chucked a bucket of what I presume was warm water on the front of the screen. The screen instantly shattered into thousands of little pieces, still held together, while the owner stood slack-faced. By then, the bus had passed by and that was the end of my brief entertainment.
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It's all well and good using water to defrost a screen, but not so clever when that water re-freezes on the ground once you've driven off! Many years ago a neighbour would use this method, leaving a very nice ice rink behind him on the road.....
My own preference is to try and keep things as dry as possible - so no de-icer, just a cheap plastic scraper. Use the rubber squeegee bit of the scraper to clear the final debris off the front screen and don't use the wipers until the demister has unstuck the frozen blades from the screen.
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It's not ice you have to worry about. It's snow.
uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9z_wlRnNAhI
Two and half minutes, work safe (with some swearing)!
Edited by Dipstick on 20/12/2007 at 10:28
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Hilarious Dipstick ! - Reminds me of when many years ago a mate of mine and I used to subsidise our weekend skiing at Aviemore by borrowing his Dad's old Range Rover to tow out snow stranded cars or get them started if they had flat batteries. We used to charge a fiver. On this one occasion we couldn't, or maybe more accurately, couldn't be bothered, to crawl underneath one our "customers" cars to find a suitable attaching point for the rope. Having done it many times before we just hooked the rope round the bumper and pulled. Well....not only did it rip the bumper off, but the catapult effect sent the bumper through the back window of the Rangey ! :-(
Bad enough placating the customer but the subsequent " Dad ...you'll probably laugh when we tell you but........." Severe wallet damage ensued.
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I'm usually a scraper man but not today - the ice on the car was so hard I couldn't make a mark on it. Had to resort to tepid water and wipers (freeing them off first), I didn't leave an ice rink behind as the water re-froze on the car bodywork before it got to the ground!
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