A less contentious issue from boring Al.
For many years now I have been clearing ice from my car windows by pouring warm water on them. (Assuming I was starting from home) This also clears ice from the inside glass and, as long as the wipers are then used to clear the water away, no re-freezing takes place.
When I tell others of my brilliant wheeze, they say "You are going to crack your screen" Well, many cars and decades later, it has yet to happen.
How often do we see idiots with a letter-box sized hole scraped on the glass with the rest of the glass frozen over, including side windows.
I believe they should be done for driving without due care as they cannot possibly have a view outside and just drive and hope.
I also knew a chap who would thaw a frozen door lock with body fluids!!!!!!!
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> For many years now I have been clearing ice from my car
> windows by pouring warm water on them.
I've always done the same, even when living in very cold parts of the world - warm rather than boiling water though.
> When I tell others of my brilliant wheeze, they say "You are
> going to crack your screen" Well, many cars and decades
> later, it has yet to happen.
Never happened to me either.
> I also knew a chap who would thaw a frozen door lock with
> body fluids!!!!!!!
I don't want to think about that. Sometimesd my fingers stick to the door locks when its cold and even that hurts.
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Alwyn
Not just you and Mark. Warm water is my standard method too.
No cracked windows yet!
regards
JS
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Posted too early!
Should have said that my preferred method is to keep the car in the garage, and avoid the problem completely. I can never understand the large number of my neighbours who never use the garage for the car!
regards
JS
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So where do you put the freezer, trailer, bikes, mower, roofrack, tools, caravan(oops) wheels, workbench, snowcahins etc.?
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Darcy
If you must know:
Freezer - study
Trailer - on end in garge
Bikes - shed
Mower - hangs on garage wall
roofrack - don't use one
Tools - garage/shed
caravan(oops) wheels - none
workbench - garage
Snowchains - none
Amazing what you can pack in
regards
JS
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John
I raise my hat to you.
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I find a kettle full of lukewarm water suffices very nicely for sorting the car out on a cold morning. Only time I have ever seen a window "crack" when using this method was when there was either a bad stonechip or already a small crack.
I believe it's actually illegal to drive a car which does not have clear windscreens as well - am sure Police were pulling people over last winter for it.
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The garage seems to be by far the best solution. But as our garage will only fit the one car (mine) we have bought er indoors a Focus with a heated front screen. It's seems to clear the screen in seconds.
Why is it only Ford have these screens?
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Watch out for heated windscreens cracking when covered with ice - happened to my fathers Granada on a couple of occasions. It was suspected it was initiated by a stone chip (he tailgates...).
I used to use a bit of felt soundproofing soaked in warmish water - just plonk it over the screen and go and do something more interesting for a few minutes. Remember to remove it before driving off!
Piers
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Of course there is the old favourite...Premier Points cards from BP.
Whatever happened to the BMW's with heat storage devices* which could release heat as soon as the cars was started.
*I'm not completely sure this isn't a figment of my deranged imagination
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I've used a plastic audio cassette box - stays rigid and is very effective if used in horizontal sweeps from the top. Warm water is OK, I think a problem would occur if you tried to cool a hot screen with cold water(thermal shock) On the subject of visibility, I saw an elderly gent. driving away from the local carpark with 8 tickets stuck directly in his line of vision..the rest of the screen was opaque with the sticky bits left from other tickets. He must have been driving for weeks in that state,- perhaps he was a Jedi master..(close your eyes and use The Force, young Skywalker..)
P.
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Andrew
Is it because relection from the elements gives the permanent impression of a slightly greasy screen when the car's driven at night?
For some reason I have found this effect rather irritating when I have had Fords on rental. Maybe this is less noticeable when the car is regular transport, but others have made the same comment to me.
How much do they cost if broken I wonder?
Regards
JS
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Actually all windows, front side and back are meant to be clear, in law.
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Point Taken (see what I mean about views and values)
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In the Toyota Supra handbook it says :-
"Engine start.
Do not depress the accelerator when starting. Let the vehicle warm up a little before driving. When the engine is cold the idle speed will be slightly higher than normal until the engine reaches the optimum operating temperature."
Clearly I am not advised to drive straight off, catalyst or not.
Must look at Proton book next time I come across it.
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Seem to recollect that if you rub your windscreen with the damp part of a potato cut in half the night before your screen will not frost over.
Old country lore, perhaps D.W. will confirm?
DVD
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I think the potato trick was for anti-misting rather than anti-icing but I could be wrong as well!
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RainX is the moden version. The ice still arrives but doesn't stick making scrapping very easy.
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DVD,
Hmmm. Not sure about the potato clearing the screen but a quick trip out to the coypu traps and you can use the left over half for a lovely warming hot-pot.
David
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Do you still have those in the Fens?
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Alwyn, you'll be getting David's Dad all worried about his Christmas lunch again!
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DVD
Now you come to mention it... I think you're right. The same tactic can be employed to stop the bathroom mirror from steaming up, allowing you to see what you're doing when you subsequently come to shave.
You shouldn't then end up with a cut on your chin like :-}
Sorry, it is Friday afternoon.
Yours
Andy
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Can I sound a note of caution to the kettle of water brigade. 'Thermal shock ' takes place when glass expands(or contracts) at an uneven rate very quickly. I work with glass jars all day, and this happens frequently when cold jars are cleaned with hot (55C) water. Just because you have got away with it so far dont mean it wont happen!
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Brian,
Do you think it might work with cold water? It is still above freezing. Must try next time, just to be safe.
I have never used a kettle: I use a jug so that I can put my paw in it to test for heat.
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I had one of these many years ago.........it worked after a fashion. Mind you what I tend to do these days is start the car 15 minutes or so before I drive off: result nice warm car, nice clear screen.
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Start your car 15 mins before you leave and you get a nice warm car plus these additional benefits;
1.) Increased likelihood your car won't be there much longer;
2.) A knackered catalyst after time due to HC poisoning;
3.) A thoroughly knackered engine - engines are *designed* to be driven from a cold-start and not to sit doing nothing;
4.) Vastly increased pollutant levels in your cosy suburb on mornings when a temperature inversion causes the misty cold morning and effectively all pollutants are trapped underneath a warmer air layer.
Don't bother.
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> 1.) Increased likelihood your car won't be there much longer;
I can see that. Depends where you park.
> 2.) A knackered catalyst after time due to HC poisoning;
How much time ? Does it really have *that* much more effect then driving in traffic ?
If I pull out of my house and hit a traffic jam in 100 yards, I'm not sure how that would be *that* much different from letting it run on the drive for a while.
> 3.) A thoroughly knackered engine - engines are *designed* to
> be driven from a cold-start and not to sit doing nothing;
Ditto to 2). Also, I don't understand why it isn't better for the car engine to be more or less rested while it warms up ? Wouldn't stress on a cold engine be worse ?
> 4.) Vastly increased pollutant levels in your cosy suburb on
> mornings when a temperature inversion causes the misty cold
> morning and effectively all pollutants are trapped underneath
> a warmer air layer.
Ah, but it must be safe because I have a catalytic converter and the government says thats good and so it must be. - seriously though, I take your point on this one.
M.
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OK - I'll try to expand!
By actually driving the car, sensibly, you are reducing the time the engine spends at below operating temperature and running on full choke and fuel rich mixture - thereby exposing your cat to higher levels of unburned hydrocarbons, etc, etc. The oil temp in my car will reach 50deg C within 2 minutes of driving. I doubt that would occur if left standing.
Try this - in a car with manual choke, while up and running you can turn the choke in pretty soon. With the car sitting as a stationary engine the choke has to be on full throughout - auto or not.
I take your point with the traffic jam but at least there is *some* movement!
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When it has frosted up I run a fan heater in the car/van for about 10 min. Defrosts screens and warm to get into! Useful to have hot water bottle, left on dashboard when you leave vehicle, which keeps screen clear
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Alwyn,
"An Alternative Tale"
Second car left outside overnight picking up a light coating of snow that then froze hard. I had a 70 mile drive ahead of me to the office and was late, so while loading my overweek bags ran the engine with the fan flat out. Not a shrewd move!
The thermal stress was too much for the screen and I was rewarded with a crack that would of impressed the bods at Pilkingtons. In moderation, I'm sure you can get away with it, but if you push the boat out a little further ---
I drove to work privately mumbling "What a pratt".
Regards,
Julian
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A warning for all. But you were not a prat. It could happen to any of us.
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Yes cold or tepid water does the job. Been doing it myself for donkeys years - no probs. Never use Hot water though. The fan heater trick is excellent too. Don't trip over the mains lead. Has anyone used the Kenlowe jobbie that connects to cooling system and circulates hot water whilst parked/in garage. Plugs in to mains for heating. Supposed to reduce wear and increase mpg as it gets engine up to op. temp. quicker.
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PS. The bit about not having heater set to 'Recirculate' is really important. With air conditioning swiched OFF and 'Recirculate' ON, inside of windows mist up within seconds.
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I came back from the auctions today and finished clearing all the crap off the garage floor and into the garage loft. The result is, much to its surprise, my car now goes back into the garage, is a bit warmer when I start it up and has no problems of frosty windscreens. Ask yourself, "Do I really need all the crap in my garage?" But be warned that a trip to the local recycling centre over the weekend usually involves sitting in a traffic jam full of cars full of leaves, hedge clippings and oversized ten year old plastic toys for at least an hour. If you can get there on a weekday, that's the day to go.
HJ
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if you search the internet you might be able to find what i had, it was a rechargeable hair dryer, so you could de-frost the car with it.
(a battery version could also be bought)
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Oops. Previous post should have attached to LAC post.
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I have been advised by a mechanic i know to let my astra warm up a bit before driving it away in the morning, I always let it warm up a little and then dont give it any hassle tell its up to temp and 10 minutes.
What about the oil advert ages ago - '90% of damage to an engine comes from when its cold' or something - is this not true?
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I think I drove one of those once. Had a BL badge on it if I remember correctly.
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There was a good trick in the old days. Put the car in the garage overnight (I would struggle to get a rollerskate into mine).
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I was interested to see the idea of the hot water bottle on the dash board. This has worked well for my car.
I seem to have to drive through a frost hollow. When the hot water bottle is left for, say, 20' having been filled with really hot water it not only gives a good clear region, it also gets enough heat into the glass so that it doesn't ice over when driving through the frost hollow.
Having said that I wouldn't depend only on the hot water bottle, I use a fair amount of de-icer spray.
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