De icing the car

[Baz Chaz]

Here's a question for the forum members to ponder over, de-icing the car :hmm:

My car has a heated windscreen so a couple of minutes and its OK, but MrsC's older car has always been left engine running and scraped when needed!

I saw a guy the other day de-ice his car with a jug of warm water, I asked him if he'd had any problems doing it as I thought if the windscreen heated too quickly it would crack :? He told me the water was only just warm and he'd been doing it for years without a problem.

So needless to say had a dig around 'tinternet and found some people just use cold water and this is enough to de-ice and use a squeejee and clear it that way, others use warm water ........ and others who say the screen will crack doing it that way, so how do you defrost yours

 

[Moley]

Big bottle of water, somewhere between cold and tepid.

Actually a 5 litre PET which has become too scruffy for winemaking.

 

[PD]

using tap water is a well known thing around here, straight out of tap not warmed.
However you are risking it, if there's any fault,defect or little chip present on the glass, the relatively quick change of temp can stress the glass causing it to crack.
If in any doubt I send the wife out with a scratcher...

 

[Sean_Mc]

Let it run for 10 min before I go out....nice warm car and the engine isn't stressed from cold too quickly

 

[PD]

and one day, when you go out to the car after 10 mins...it won't be there.....and your insurance company will not pay out...

 

[Sean_Mc]

Rubbish















You aint seen my car :lol:

 

[brookenstein]

Around here the paperboy de-ices cars for a pound a car, saves me the hassle, he does most of the estate on his round, think he said it's about 15 - 20 cars when it gets frosty,

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Warm water, never had a problem. :thumb:

BB

 

[Dave1970]

Me & SWMBO use a plastic watering can full of warm tap water, a splash on the side & back windows to clear then all the rest goes slowly down the windscreen. The advantage of doing it slowly is that there's perhaps less of a sudden change of temp (not cracked a windscreen yet, including screens with a couple of chips) and it warms the windscreen through to the inside so it doesn't do that really annoying thing where your first breath freezes onto the inside of the screen that happens with de-icer.

 

[Awolphotography]

Around here the paperboy de-ices cars for a pound a car, saves me the hassle, he does most of the estate on his round, think he said it's about 15 - 20 cars when it gets frosty,

Genius!

 

[dennisking]

Around here the paperboy de-ices cars for a pound a car, saves me the hassle, he does most of the estate on his round, think he said it's about 15 - 20 cars when it gets frosty,

He will go a long way.

 

[Aleman]

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, over the last 20 years I've used Hot water (straight from the hot tap so 50-60C) to de ice the windscreens of all the cars I've had, and never a cracked windscreen even though all of the cars have had chipped screens . . . In fact the only crack I've had was when driving to work in the cold in my old Astra and the temperature differential between the inside and the freezing fog on the outside, caused a crack to propagate from top to bottom . . .

 

[bobsbeer]

I just use a regular scraper. Never had a problem and it only takes a minute. While I'm doing the windscreen the back window does it's self. Never used a tin of deicer in my life.

 

[stevie1556]

I used to use Power De-icer, great stuff, in a bottle where you keep pulling the lever. I've just gone back to using a scraped though as ice found the windows don't fog up as much.

I had a long discussion with a guy at work who fills a water bottle with boiling water from one of the boilers, then by the time we walk back to the office, check out, etc, he says it's cool enough to put on his windscreen. I've never been brave enough to try it though.

 

[oldbloke]

I keep my car in the garage. Seems to work.


More seriously, there was one night we'd gone out and the car had been parked in the open for a few hours at sub-zero temps.
If I'd had access to any water I might have tried it, but we had to sit there for about 8 minutes while the engine warmed up enough to send heat through the vents to clear everything, the spray de-icer wouild sort of work but everything just froze back up as soon as it had evaporated.
But that's what I rely on - spray de-icer + scraper

 

[Stihler]

and one day, when you go out to the car after 10 mins...it won't be there.....and your insurance company will not pay out...

I second Shed Brewer's comment. Rubbish!

You have a second set of keys to unlock your car while it has been warming up.

I scrape the windows if need be and let the car warm up while running. When going into the shop I leave the car going and lock the door.

I haven't the warm water bit for deicing. I suspect the temperatures are generally bit too extremely here.

Of course, not today. We're getting freezing rain. Yuck!

- Scott

 

[Hawks]

I keep my car in the garage. Seems to work.

But then where would I put my brewing stuff / bikes and general assorted cr*p :wha:

I have always used warm water, probably warmer than I should reading this but it's never caused a problem and I have had many a car with a chipped windscreen...

 

[graysalchemy]

I cover my windscreen over on the van so the screen is clear, but the problem is when you get in condensation from your breath freezes up the inside. So I now sit in the van for 10 minutes letting it get warm before I drive off.

 

[Zedilly]

Open car, place hot water bottle on dash, go inside for cup of tea and 10 minutes later you have a clear screen and a hot water bottle to cuddle on the way to work

 

[graysalchemy]

Open car, place hot water bottle on dash, go inside for cup of tea and 10 minutes later you have a clear screen and a hot water bottle to cuddle on the way to work

Oh now theres a thought. :hmm: :hmm: