Don't scrape your windscreen to clear frost...

sillygoose

almillar wrote: »

sillygoose is getting a Mitusbishi Outlander PHEV - just set the app up for my father in law.
sillygoose - yes, toasty warm car - but surely there's no frost on your windscreen, as you have it parked in a garage?!
And yes, the whole point of pre-heating is to do it on the mains, not to eat range.

You are correct on all points except the garage, it will be too big for my garage and all my electronics junk too although there has been very little frost yet anyway.

And yes preheating will be done whilst plugged in.

As to the people concerned about its Green credibility.. I don't give a rats! I am getting it to save thousands of pounds in tax! :cool2:

OddballJamie

Gloomendoom wrote: »

What was actually patented?

Something to do with embedded wires in glass.

Zetec spec and above got it as standard, although the patent expired a couple of years back hence why Vauxhall have started fitting it to new models.

Gloomendoom

OddballJamie wrote: »

Something to do with embedded wires in glass.

That's what I don't understand, heated windscreens with wires embedded in the glass have been available for over fifty years for cars, longer in aeroplanes.

There must be more to it than that.

Running_On_Empty

Fill a 5 litre water container with very hot water from the tap and pour over all windows. I have used a kettle full of water just off the boil for years and never have had a problem. The ice which temporarily forms on the ground will more than likely have melted by the time you return home.
If you have a garage, clear out the junk and put the car in there.

Pincher

OddballJamie wrote: »

Something to do with embedded wires in glass.

Zetec spec and above got it as standard, although the patent expired a couple of years back hence why Vauxhall have started fitting it to new models.

If they are going to do that, then they might as well embed some more for the radio aerial. The wind screen is laminated anyway.


Maybe we can get the EU to come up with some directive to force all cars to have them.


The 2015 Vauxhall Viva starts from ~£7,000.


cheaper oil, cheaper cars, the future really is deflationary.

wba31

Running_On_Empty wrote: »

Fill a 5 litre water container with very hot water from the tap and pour over all windows. I have used a kettle full of water just off the boil for years and never have had a problem. The ice which temporarily forms on the ground will more than likely have melted by the time you return home.
If you have a garage, clear out the junk and put the car in there.

Ive not measured my garage and car, but if i got the car in the garage, im not convinced id get out the car unless i climbed through the boot... and i dont have the largest of cars...

DKLS

I dont scrape anymore, just look out the window, press the blipper which remotes starts the engine, so by the time I get out its toasty warm and has clear windscreens.

Strider590

Avoriaz wrote: »

If you normally have enough hot water left over after making tea to fill a water bottle, then you are boiling far too much water and wasting money.

Boiling too much water doesn't waste money.......
Now I know full well there are probably 100 websites that all ran the same story, but all they're doing is repeating without thinking.

Your just converting energy to heat, the excess simply passes into the air around it and heats the room as the excess water cools down.
Much like how when I shower, I let the bath fill with water (which I've just paid to heat) and then empty it when it finally gets cold.

What is the difference between hot water in a container and hot water in your radiators? Forgetting for a moment the fact that electrical heating is nearly 100% efficient, compared to gas central heating which kicks a portion of the generated heat straight out of the flue on the side/top of the house.

If you lived in a hot climate, then yes it probably would be wasting electricity/money, but then you probably wouldn't be making hot drinks.

In the UK, we use our heating for most of the year, so all you do by boiling too much water is supplement the central heating. The research done a few years ago into over filling the kettle, did not take into consideration ANY of this, it was complete BS, a waste of time and money.

What does happen if you let the kettle run empty, is the seal in the base starts to dry out, which then leads to early life failure..... How much does a nice new kettle cost? I wonder if the manufacturers sponsored the "research"?

bod1467

Gloomendoom wrote: »

What was actually patented?

Perhaps not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quickclear

But Ford cars seemed to be the only ones with this type of front windscreen clearing mechanism for a lot of years.

BeenThroughItAll

Strider590 wrote: »

If you lived in a hot climate, then yes it probably would be wasting electricity/money, but then you probably wouldn't be making hot drinks.

You probably would, actually. Hot drinks promote greater sweating, and therefore cooling via evaporation (unless in 100% humidity).


Why do you think Bedouin drink tea?