Why can't I defrost my car with water anymore?
Discussion
A few years ago the popular advice seemed to be to pour room temperature or luke warm water on your windscreen, and on any other frosty window and you'll have a perfectly clear windscreen in a few seconds, this is what I have been doing and of all the other methods this is the quickest, easiest, fastest, cheapest and most reliable method I have found, and works anywhere you have access to hot and cold running water.
Now the AA is giving advice never to do that and it is parroted all over the place including the BBC.
Their survey suggests millions of people do it and 10s of thousands even do it with hot or boiling water, I have yet to see any evidence of the chaos this has created.
They have given no references, but instead rely on some spurious claims that don't have enough detail to be declared totally incorrect, like "Glass expands quickly when hot or even warm water touches it" and "warm water freezes faster than cold water"
https://www.autoglass.ie/how-to-defrost-your-winds...
Auto glass suggest that luke warm water is fine in Ireland, they have a pretty similar climate to us the laws of physics I believe are the same there, so why is the AA confidently insisting the exact opposite.
Now the AA is giving advice never to do that and it is parroted all over the place including the BBC.
Their survey suggests millions of people do it and 10s of thousands even do it with hot or boiling water, I have yet to see any evidence of the chaos this has created.
They have given no references, but instead rely on some spurious claims that don't have enough detail to be declared totally incorrect, like "Glass expands quickly when hot or even warm water touches it" and "warm water freezes faster than cold water"
https://www.autoglass.ie/how-to-defrost-your-winds...
Auto glass suggest that luke warm water is fine in Ireland, they have a pretty similar climate to us the laws of physics I believe are the same there, so why is the AA confidently insisting the exact opposite.
Brassblaster said:
Have always done this and still do.
I suspect it's a lowest common denominator thing - enough stupid people who assume that if warm is good then hot will be better... And proceed to use water that's far too hot and cracks the glass.
I'd love to know how many people have actually cracked their own screen, not second or third hand stories.I suspect it's a lowest common denominator thing - enough stupid people who assume that if warm is good then hot will be better... And proceed to use water that's far too hot and cracks the glass.
Typical for what passes for 'journalism' these days - = uncritical regurgitation of top 10 google hits on any subject = ignore.
Yes, any convenient measure of cold* -to- warm water from kitchen tap is the fastest, easiest, cleanest method. Throw-over, rejoice in instant clearing and no damage done.
Yes, any convenient measure of cold* -to- warm water from kitchen tap is the fastest, easiest, cleanest method. Throw-over, rejoice in instant clearing and no damage done.
- even on the coldest days, the cold feed from your kitchen tap will still be 10-12degC + in urban areas. More than enough energy to clear teh car windows.
Slightly warmer than luke warm has been the only way I was getting in the 440i can this last week, well that or a hairdryer. Warm water was needed to penetrate the ice on all the window seals such that the window could drop on the frameless doors to let me in the car.
No amount of deicer would touch it (I emptied half a tin onto one seal on the first attempt), and scraping would do the square root of FA to the seals and bits you can’t scrape.
That said, defrosting the Passat PHEV and Tesla Model 3 was FAR more civilised.
No amount of deicer would touch it (I emptied half a tin onto one seal on the first attempt), and scraping would do the square root of FA to the seals and bits you can’t scrape.
That said, defrosting the Passat PHEV and Tesla Model 3 was FAR more civilised.
Huff said:
Typical for what passes for 'journalism' these days - = uncritical regurgitation of top 10 google hits on any subject = ignore.
Yes, any convenient measure of cold* -to- warm water from kitchen tap is the fastest, easiest, cleanest method. Throw-over, rejoice in instant clearing and no damage done.
^This x100Yes, any convenient measure of cold* -to- warm water from kitchen tap is the fastest, easiest, cleanest method. Throw-over, rejoice in instant clearing and no damage done.
- even on the coldest days, the cold feed from your kitchen tap will still be 10-12degC + in urban areas. More than enough energy to clear teh car windows.
Also has the added benefit of never needing to totally ruin glass with scratches using an ice scraper.
paradigital said:
Slightly warmer than luke warm has been the only way I was getting in the 440i can this last week, well that or a hairdryer. Warm water was needed to penetrate the ice on all the window seals such that the window could drop on the frameless doors to let me in the car.
I've got frameless windows on my car as well and I find lubricating the seals with Gummi Pflege can help prevent them from freezing.Haltamer said:
Any water above freezing will do, cold tap is fine.
There is the refreezing / icy puddle concern, but wipers & strong screenwash mix and a salted drive makes that less of a problem.
I thought this, but tried it with a bottle of water that had been left in the car, it was too cold.There is the refreezing / icy puddle concern, but wipers & strong screenwash mix and a salted drive makes that less of a problem.
If I run my tap for long enough at the moment it is delicious icey cold at about 4-5 degrees, I imagine after I've had a morning shower the cold water from my kitchen would be running that cold after a few seconds
Screens can crack if they already have damage with very hot water - I had a screen which had cracked due to a stone chip already and ran a little experiment.
Used a kettle full which had boiled about 5 minutes before and tipped it straight on the screen - instantly the tiny crack that was there already stretched to about 30cm, and two stone chips turned into 5cm cracks. This was an OEM screen as well not some cheap one.
I just use warm water and never really had a problem, although this very cold week has left the cars and drive with more ice, it's been exceptionally cold for an extended period.
The reason the outlets say don't do it is because people are idiots and will burn themselves, use boiling water etc etc, and cause more callouts for breakdown services at an already busy time.
Used a kettle full which had boiled about 5 minutes before and tipped it straight on the screen - instantly the tiny crack that was there already stretched to about 30cm, and two stone chips turned into 5cm cracks. This was an OEM screen as well not some cheap one.
I just use warm water and never really had a problem, although this very cold week has left the cars and drive with more ice, it's been exceptionally cold for an extended period.
The reason the outlets say don't do it is because people are idiots and will burn themselves, use boiling water etc etc, and cause more callouts for breakdown services at an already busy time.
Vipers said:
cuprabob said:
Vipers said:
it had hearing wiring in the screen like the old ones used to have.
I like the sound of that 
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