Windscreen defrosting?!

[AntJC]

Pointless switching on the Air Con.

Most compressors will not kick in at any temperature below +4 degrees.

Heating controls and fan speed to max, close the dash vents and direct the air flow to the screen. Takes a few minutes but the friction of the (even) cold air hitting the screen will start to cause the frost to clear.

[HellDiver]

Start car, turn on front and rear windscreen heaters, put on seatbelt, windows now clear. Sometimes need to wind the side windows down and up again, but mostly not.

The wonders of Quickclear windscreens, the only "feature" of a 6 year old Mondeo LX which is any good.

[blugnu]

HellDiver said:

Start car, turn on front and rear windscreen heaters, put on seatbelt, windows now clear. Sometimes need to wind the side windows down and up again, but mostly not.

The wonders of Quickclear windscreens, the only "feature" of a 6 year old Mondeo LX which is any good.

It's the only feature (apart from zero depreciation and crushing reliability) that's any good on my 12 year old Mondeo too. I see your LX and raise you a Ghia :-)

Strange how such a practical, cheap, reliable and comfortable car is so hard to love isn't it?

[HellDiver]

Mine's needed a clutch at £360 and new shocks all round at £250 in the year I've owned it. The electrics are on the fritz too, so I definitely don't love it. It's a piece of crap, really. I'll run it until something else major breaks, then push it over a cliff.

[blugnu]

HellDiver said:

Mine's needed a clutch at £360 and new shocks all round at £250 in the year I've owned it. The electrics are on the fritz too, so I definitely don't love it. It's a piece of crap, really. I'll run it until something else major breaks, then push it over a cliff.

Mine has only got 58k on the clock in 12 years - admittedly I've done 30 of them in the last 22 months, but it's still not many miles. Perhaps that's the difference. I still don't love mine though.

I'm off-topic. Sorry!

[Hip2Bsquare]

Munter said:

Sixpackpert said:

Turn on
Set controls to windscreen/full fan/aircon on
Go inside
Boil kettle
Make coffee
Drink coffee
Go outside
Go back inside
Report car stolen

EFA

[Petrolhead_Rich]

ewenm said:

Daaaveee said:

ewenm said:

The C30 we had last winter wouldn't lock on the spare key if the engine was running.

Did you stick the key in the door and lock or just try the fob? I think some wouldn't lock on the fob but would just do the doors if you use the key.

Doesn't really have a keyhole as such, only the emergency key hidden in the normal "key", but no I didn't try it.

I had an S40 and did this alot, open window, lock all the doors using the button on the inside of the door, pull switch to pop window up and walk off with the emergency key

It all went wrong in the lake district when it was -6 and the lock froze, those little emergency keys snap very easily!

took me 30 minutes to get the door unlocked!

Otherwise, perfect idea!

[HellDiver]

blugnu said:

Mine has only got 58k on the clock in 12 years - admittedly I've done 30 of them in the last 22 months, but it's still not many miles. Perhaps that's the difference. I still don't love mine though.

I'm off-topic. Sorry!

Mine's now got 64k on it, 54k by the previous owner who seems to have done school runs most of the time. Hence the shagged interior, brakes, clutch and suspension.

[Hip2Bsquare]

Stand on the roof and urinate down the windows?

[Gwagon111]

Don't forget to switch the air-con to recirculate. The screen will clear a little quicker that way.

[shakotan]

BrianMillar said:

I know we have all done it at some point, but it is illegal to leave a vehicle unattended with it’s engine running.

The offence is against S42 of the RTA 1988 (called quitting), is dealt with by Regulation 107(1) of The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulation 1986 (SI 1986/1078)

Regulation 107(2)(a). This states that no person shall cause or permit to be on any road any motor vehicle which is not attended by a person duly licensed to drive it unless the engine is stopped and the parking brake is effectively set. Exemptions to the requirements of this Regulation as to the stopping of the engine include a fire brigade vehicle, the engine of which is being used for any fire brigade purpose.

Unless it's on your driveway, where you can do what the fk you want.

[Hip2Bsquare]

Hip2Bsquare said:

Stand on the roof and urinate down the windows?

Oh, snag .....freezing temps is likely to get you a trickle of pee down your leg

[Pigeon]

NDT said:

Mr Gearchange said:

http://library.thinkquest.org/C008537/cool/freeze/...

Mpemba effect - although it might not actually work in the same way when applied to a windscreen - but I'm pretty sure I have observed it to be the fact.

Plus cold water isn't likley to crack your windscreen.

the science in that link is very dodgy.

1) supercooling - yes, it could explain it but isn't going to be of any relevance when you slosh the water onto your windscreen

2) evaporation - rubbish. By the time the hot water has cooled the rate of evaporation will be the same, and any difference in mass of water left will be negligible

3) point three - the snow around the hypothetical bucket will melt and refreeze. Maybe. But doesn't explain the phenomenon apart for metal buckets sitting in the snow.

I've never seen a decent writeup on this supposed effect. Even for the ones that don't depend on the specific circumstances of a metal bucket sitting in the snow, they never compare like with like. They compare the freezing of some heated water with that of some cold water straight out of the tap, and whatever explanation they provide always depends on things that happen to the water as a result of being heated up, as opposed to it simply being hot (if you see what I mean). Or on things that have nothing to do with the heat at all, such as the hot water being in a different container.

I reckon if you heated some water and allowed it to cool back down to cold-tap temperature, then put it to freeze and timed it, also heated some water, put it to freeze while still hot, and timed that, the cooled one would freeze quicker.

After all, before hot water freezes it turns into cold water first...

blugnu][flak jacket said:

All of you running your engines to defrost - don't you feel it's a little, er, wasteful to defrost your car by burning a finite and diminishing resource?

It's not like scraping it off is hard work - or even necessary. Just put a sheet over the screen at night.

[/flak jacket]

[actually, I'll leave the jacket on, it's cold]

I do this quite a lot, and I don't reckon it's wasteful at all. Setting off straight away with the engine cold and the choke still out means I'm opening the throttle with the engine running significantly less efficiently than it does when it's warm, and using a lot more fuel. If I let it warm up before setting off then I'm not opening the throttle until the engine is at a temperature where it will run efficiently. As long as I don't leave it ticking over for longer than necessary, the extra fuel used warming it up seems to be about the same amount as the extra fuel used by opening the throttle when the engine's cold and inefficient.

[Zad]

Get in, start engine, press 2x heater buttons, wait a minute, drive off. 19 year old XR4x4 here with Quickclear heated windscreen, heated door mirrors and heated washer jets which never fail to make me think the engine has finally let go. Being an old motor means I tend to take around heavy toolboxes in the boot, which certainly helps traction.

[mp3manager]

Clifford Intellistart for me. Press a button and the car starts and is defrosted 5 minutes later.

[berni29]

Hi

I have a couple of those Halfords car heaters that plug into the cigarette lighter. I am guessing that they will be next to useless.

Berni

[mcford]

Zad said:

Get in, start engine, press 2x heater buttons, wait a minute, drive off. 19 year old XR4x4 here with Quickclear heated windscreen, heated door mirrors and heated washer jets which never fail to make me think the engine has finally let go. Being an old motor means I tend to take around heavy toolboxes in the boot, which certainly helps traction.

Similar to me with my lowly LX, though I have retrofitted the heated front screen, washer jets, door mirrors and heated seats. I can bypass the frozen door locks by using the remote unlocking.

[papercup]

eybic said:

Sixpackpert said:

Turn on
Set controls to windscreen/full fan/aircon on
Go inside
Boil kettle
Make coffee
Drink coffee
Go to car and drive off.

There have been many instances of cars being stolen whilst this method is used, one not too long ago the owner was actually run over and dragged down the road, she is now paralised I believe.

While she was drinking coffee in the house? Bizarre.

[fathomfive]

Boggo 10yr old Focus Zetec with a heated windscreen. Get in, start engine, push a button and one minute later - two at the most, job done and away you go.

[HereBeMonsters]

Mr Gearchange said:

Use cold water - hot water re-freezes more quickly than cold water.

Not on a windscreen it doesn't!

You're thinking of ice cube trays, where convection can play a part.


As for boiling water - I've done this on almost every car I've owned, and never had a problem.