Best way to de-ice a windscreen?

[Zep]

Buy a car that doesn't have a windscreen???

 

[NeilC]

My car has a heated front windscreen. 2 minutes and whatever ice is on it just drops off.

 

[badnewsBH]

A hammer would probably work...

I mean, unless you still need the windshield afterward, then an ice scraper is likely preferable.

 

[Deetee]

I usually scrape while the car warms up, but if I'm in a hurry I use some very luke warm water poured over the windscreen.

No-one has mentioned the de-icer sprays - these seem to work OK but I don't use them myself. I think they have some glycol-something in them. They probably deform babies and destroy the planet tho.

ETA: This is what's in them. I was wrong - no glycol, just butane/other alcohols.
Strangely, under "5. Firefighting measures" It claims that "this product is not flammable" (only to confirm later under "14. Transport Information" that it is). I feel an experiment coming over me....

 

[Darat]

Deetee's car during the "de-icing experiment"

I use a scraper and sometimes some cold water.

 

[Dave_46]

Years ago, I rigged a dryer/blower from an old copier on a stand in the back seat of my VW bug and a timer that turned it on 45 minutes before I needed to leave for work. When I got in the car it was already toasty warm and all the windows were clear. Now, I don't have to get up at such unreasonable times so the sun has often cleared or at least softened the ice for me.

If you decide to use the heater method, keep in mind the potential fire hazard if the heater is not secured and the risks caused by having the electrical cord out in the weather.

Seconded. I knew someone who had a sump heater to ensure his engine was warm when he started it. He lost the car and the garage.

Dave

 

[Rolfe]

I used to have a car with a heated windscreen and it was great, but of course it only did the front. My present car doesn't have that, unfortunately.

Now, I have a couple of odd-angled turns to make shortly after leaving the house, where I'm on the give-way, and as a result I need my side windows clear as well. This morning it was -7.2C when I left, and it didn't go over freezing all day yesterday, so everything was very frosted. I just went out about 5-10 minutes before I was due to leave and started the car. I left it running, with the rear demister and the windscreen fans on. When I was ready to leave the inside was comfortably warm, and I only had to spray a little bit of deicer on the rear side windows.

Longer term plan involves clearing out the boxes of books and gardening tools in the garage so the car can go in!

Rolfe.

 

[tot]

Fortunately I don't live anymore in a climate where ice and snow is a problem, but back in Finland I used to use a car heater. It is bit like a hair dryer, but in a more convenient package. It does enough to clean the windows and make the interior not-freezing.

 

[Uncle Vanya]

Ice scrapers work wonders, but if you're in a hurry and you don't have time to scrape off a thin layer of ice use some special de-icing windshield washer fluid, you can usually pick some up at a local auto-parts store, from my experience, its not much more expensive than the regular stuff.

 

[fagin]

De-icer and a credit card.

 

[Foster Zygote]

Growing up at the south end of Lake Michigan my preferred method was to start the car, set the heater to blow through the defroster vents and let it run for fifteen to twenty minutes. Then, if needed, some quick work with a brush and scraper generally did the trick.

But here in South Carolina the preferred method by many is to come out of the house ten minutes late for work, use one's Blockbuster Video card to scrape a small slot in the frost on the windscreen, then proceed down the highway with no more visibility than someone driving a tank at Kursk.

 

[malaka]

I think I heard somewhere that putting anti-rain stuff (like Rain X) directly on the windshield, before it snows or freezes, will help clear any snow/ice later. It allows the snow/ice to simply "slide off" when using an ice-scraper.

 

[X]

http://www.autobarn.net/35blizsnow.html

Works like a darn!

Yes. They are cheap, handy, follproof, and available pretty well anywhere.

Living in central Canada, everyone has at least 1. Many people carry spares for their passengers to use, too!

Seriously, just get a brush/scraper combo. Either a wood-or-plastic handled cheapy, or a metal handled one. If you get a metal handled one, make sure it has a foam section for your hands, or else your fingers will get very cold.

You can even let the car warm up while you brush/scrape.

 

[Big Les]

I have a hard time believing that a modern laminated glass windscreen would shatter with the application of boiling water. Mostly because I've owned three cars in my life and a freshly boiled kettle has seen to all of them, every year. Although recently I've taken to using warm tapwater instead. If there's two of you in the car or more, issue scrapers to them to speed things up!

My car was more frozen than I've ever seen it this morning - the driver's side door was frozen shut and every square inch down to the sills was covered in a layer of ice.

 

[richardm]

No, you should never warm the engine up by idling it, you should always drive off immediately. Otherwise you will increase engine wear dramatically.

You're quite possibly right, but to be honest I'm prepared to let my engine suffer for the common (i.e. my) good


Edited to add: I think the coldest my car's been was on a drive from London to Berwick-Upon-Tweed one winter's evening. I stopped to get some petrol, and was happily fuelling up when I became aware of a series of quite loud snapping noises. In those days I had a car with a motorised aerial. It was so cold that as I drove along the aerial had built up a layer of ice that was getting on for half-an-inch thick. The motor had started to try to retract the aerial when I turned off the car's ignition, and was finally succeeding in a noisy shower of ice as the little knob on the end crunched down through the coating. I was quite impressed that it didn't just die on the spot, frankly.

Edited again to add: When I got my first decent car the contrast in winter between it and my old Renault 5 was unbelievable. With the Renault I spent the best part of an hour every morning scraping off the ice, then running the battery flat trying to start the motor, juggling the choke carefully, expending half a can of WD-40 on various bits, trying to restart again, listen to the starter motor get slower and slower as the battery gave up the will to live, smell the petrol fumes as the bloody thing floods again because I'm too frustrated now to juggle the choke properly, then finally getting it going and then sitting in a freezing cold car that didn't start to blow warm air until I was nearly at work assuming that it didn't wheeze to an unexpected halt before I got there*. Going from that to a car that (a) started as soon as I turned the key and (b) completely de-iced itself in under five minutes and then gave me a toasty-warm journey to work (all the way to work too) was just fantastic. Three cheers for modern cars!

*It did that once on the fast lane of a motorway. That was exciting.

 

[Worm]

I find the main problem is condensation on the inside which has iced up, rather than ice on the outside.

Even using the highest setting on the heater and blowing air at the screen at hurricane strength takes quite a while to clear.

 

[Chris Haynes]

I find the main problem is condensation on the inside which has iced up, rather than ice on the outside.

Even using the highest setting on the heater and blowing air at the screen at hurricane strength takes quite a while to clear.

This is where using the air conditioner helps (if your car has one). The drier air from having the air conditioner on with the heat on high removes the condensation faster. It also helps keep the seals in the system from drying out (when we got our first car with an air conditioner we were told to run a few times in the winter, and as we learned later it made clearing the windows go faster).

 

[Cuddles]

It's that time of year again where your cars windscreen gets all icy and snowy. What's the best way to get rid of it? The way I do it is I get a gallon or two of the hottest water my tap will let out (which is probably around 80 centigrade) and pouring it on the windscreen and then let the car sit for about 20 minutes. Is that the best way or is there something better?

Why would you need to wait 20 minutes? If it hasn't melted after a minute, it's not going to melt any more in the next 19. In fact, unless you accidentally parked under a lake, which then froze, pouring a gallon of boiling water over it would clear it pretty much instantly. However, if you do wait 20 minutes, it's quite likely that the water you just poured over it will freeze, so instead of having nice soft frost on your windscreen, you now have a solid sheet of ice on it. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything.

 

[Michael Redman]

I find the main problem is condensation on the inside which has iced up, rather than ice on the outside.

Even using the highest setting on the heater and blowing air at the screen at hurricane strength takes quite a while to clear.

Make sure you are drawing fresh air, and not recirculating.

No, you should never warm the engine up by idling it, you should always drive off immediately. Otherwise you will increase engine wear dramatically.

I've always been told the opposite, that you shouldn't rev up a cold engine before the oil begins to circulate.

Anyway, everyone in this area of the world warms their car before driving when it's cold. We need the heat to warm the glass, and also for the occupants to be able to function. I don't think we suffer from significantly shorter engine life.

 

[Modified]

I have a hard time believing that a modern laminated glass windscreen would shatter with the application of boiling water.

I would think the same, but if your windshield already has cracks, it would probably cause them to spread.