on ways and means of de-icing a windscreen...

[661-Pete]

On the way in this morning, passed some sad-looking bloke standing disconsolately (and looking chilled) in his front garden, gazing at his motor: engine idling, wipers in intermittent mode scraping away at the iced-up front windscreen: not appearing to have tried any other means of getting the ice off...

Has anyone observed something more imaginative on these lines? De-icing a car ain't rocket science! My preferred method is to use a plastic scraper - but luckily for me I have a garage, and I don't use the car much anyway, so I don't often have the need.

 

[snapper_37]

On the way in this morning, passed some sad-looking bloke standing disconsolately (and looking chilled) in his front garden, gazing at his motor: engine idling, wipers in intermittent mode scraping away at the iced-up front windscreen: not appearing to have tried any other means of getting the ice off...

Has anyone observed something more imaginative on these lines? De-icing a car ain't rocket science! My preferred method is to use a plastic scraper - but luckily for me I have a garage, and I don't use the car much anyway, so I don't often have the need.

Scraper for me - warms you up at the same time.

Best (worst) I saw was someone throwing hot water over the windscreen and it immediately freezing even thicker than before, as well as making the driveway like glass.

 

[beanzontoast]

Scraper here. Takes a while but warms you up doing it as Snapper said.

Mrs B uses the spray stuff sometimes. I don't like the smell of it myself.

 

[rusky]

Wifey has the car so I just start the engine 5 mins before she needs to leave the house

 

[661-Pete]

A slightly more positive approach is the old hair-dryer dodge - especially for frozen door locks. But because of the conductivity of the large mass of metal, it's going to take a lot of kilowatts to even slightly warm it!

Bucket of water is the most deadly, especially if the car was parked in the street. I have to watch out for those tell-tale patches of fresh ice on the road!

 

[ThePainInSpain]

Don't need to bother these days (although we did have a slight frost yesterday).

However, in the UK, knowing that we were going to have a frost I used to put an old sheet over the windscreen overnight. Top corners trapped in the front doors and set underneath the wipers.

Come out to the car in the morning.............hey presto, no frost on the screen.

Simples................

 

[XmisterIS]

It takes me 5 mins with the engine running, hot air on full blast and an ice-scraper. Simples!

Talking of hair dryers, a technical bod who works for a freezer manufacturer told my mum that the best way to defrost a freezer is to unplug it and use a hair dryer. She tried it and it took all of 20 minutes!

 

[snailracer]

Scraping risks scratching the glass if there is any grit or sand on the glass, so I prefer to use squirt bottles of de-icer. I don't like the pressurized cans, as they lose pressure when stored over the summer.

I have occasionally resorted to scraping with a credit card.

 

[rusky]

I put a cheap IKEA mat over the windscreen the night before which helps.

I used to have a Ford car with a quick clear windscreen which was great - the frost and ice just melted away really fast.

I like the heated front screens Ford use but once you notice the element in the screen, you're always looking at it!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Chuck a brick through it

 

[Fnaar]

Drive somewhere warmer and wait a bit

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Simply pour petrol over the car and put a match to it

 

[Fnaar]

Was it French wine that was found to have de-icer in it? (not ALL French wine, clearly

)

So any left over mulled-wine would probably do the trick

 

[yumpy]

Two children keen on getting extra pocket money works quite well ;-)

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Get a load of that grit for the road and chuck it all over your car to keep it clear.