Hot water, scraper or de-icer?

sevenhills

It's that time of year again!

There are always warnings about not using boiling water, but maybe hot water is ok?

That is what I have been using, for the last few years, with no problems.

Has anyone poured on hot water to a frozen windscreen and seen it crack?

I have never heard of it happening, just warnings.

Hot water is much easier than other methods, 50% cold water and 50% boiling water.

Soot2006

I'm a scraper. Don't like chemicals, often leaving locations with no water source .. I like to get the car switched on and warming up while I do my scraping workout. It's not a "new" car, it';s 2013, but that's plenty new enough that I'm still impressed by how quickly things warm up. I have memories of frozen fingers and windows refreezing after already being scraped haha.

MovingForwards

I scrape too and also don't use chemicals. As above I take a risk of having my car running while I go round it.

Get up in the morning, look out the window, if someone's car is iced up I leave earlier to do to prep my car for driving.

Grumpy_chap

Scraper all the time for me - no chemicals and no risk of glass cracking if the water is too hot.

sevenhills

Grumpy_chap said:

Scraper all the time for me - no chemicals and no risk of glass cracking if the water is too hot.

I drive a VW Crafter van, so the windscreen is large and the heater is poor. Although I will be starting up a few minutes earlier, it still will not clear the windscreen.

At the very least its a good idea to use hot water on the side windows and mirrors.

I have a scraper with a long handle, but I still need to stand on the front wheels if I want to scrape all of the windscreen.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321888024167?_trkparms=ispr=1&hash=item4af2057667:g:cgEAAOSwmyhhFlE-&amdata=enc:AQAGAAACoPYe5NmHp%2B2JMhMi7yxGiTJkPrKr5t53CooMSQt2orsSvhAqMt0wg86xg8aAkgjQJHAojVoopyBGzxxL5ar3MBKuG1Onpad9gpQOxHogq8VthfADsmo9%2BPfejeLCO0FvphR3yNx0%2FZRp6KjMV7N%2B7cZJn7f%2BYQN0JZ7Rg%2BGmlRx7HBhnVJhDdhgoOZWkdhLoGpnhWLEfd4v4LMyPg0fqJdogmZG2w%2Faa44KuYpuOv9MIMK3UdlzAIPbW0Z8Q4KpReK%2FbTkPzt1PNg8R0Add%2FcfFl0zxwb78iFf79f3DpS%2Boz2NUi5Na%2F9%2FIa0GP3GvoRFPb5kKVSv2%2Bx6UI9A81K9UIJXepDwPAW1imcSnOdHRmB4r8d1CxsK7Y842432lGrJw%2BCf%2BHLDkoCrqG8%2BOI3%2B2M4DAIBX8%2BeIk2qPkByijHgAw%2BXtShL0PmCiNqW5xcgCpbUEXPZ%2FoX3IBmlOKMVkROwwOldgIuKf6IA%2Bn2vUSDQLAN%2BFVoUJ9gZk0nLHuGjGVMaU53Z1ozY%2Fy5fO0vyMpmi8I460no%2BciMioLik8o3entEj4FQvnDRvsfDUqhiStmWls3sqclmUK4WBMltRCNFrVCYVyW3Pu5GAXuG4nlBvslifrQigtSurUZIHOzwgrUufBlu8te0uMWdQvCP1stwbJd6co86nGyIz6DW%2FSQD%2B4btQhZb%2FqfpGxoOA3qVlZdIt%2FFgRXiXIr%2FNw1ZkjPJdtbe0aeq2d1DJNNuszDYL0bf7f3OKZAHHRPOGNPxWlTYjiqnpnTS1%2BdL3ONKve%2BBHRa8qJhBgdtQBrSzFUp3fFm7li7HEeGrgpyk2uiORqJTxIwxvydpvBWND8HE0Dc3uYcy7%2FAp0MPwIJul5MEohggCj1UDvhH7h3cVeGS%2F3Z2A%3D%3D|clp:2334524|tkp:BFBMiNy_6qxf

lemondrops69

Heated front screen  

elsien

Windscreen cover as my car sadly doesn’t run to a heated windscreen. 

forgotmyname

Start the engine, leave for a minute to settle and then switch both front and rear screens on whilst I email Ford

venting my displeasure of having to exit the vehicle to scrape the side windows. 

parkerparker

At home, two walks around the car screen / glass / mirrors with a kettle full of barely warm water does the trick for me. If I'm out and about, has to be de-icer. I don't do scraping.

neilmcl

sevenhills said:

It's that time of year again!

There are always warnings about not using boiling water, but maybe hot water is ok?

That is what I have been using, for the last few years, with no problems.

Has anyone poured on hot water to a frozen windscreen and seen it crack?

I have never heard of it happening, just warnings.

Hot water is much easier than other methods, 50% cold water and 50% boiling water.

I saw it happen once, but that was back in the early eighties so probably the older, non laminate type of windscreens. Having said that any windscreen could crack under when using hot water if it already contains a crack, chip etc.

I'm a plain ice scraper man myself.

facade

I roll out the extension lead and plug in a fanheater inside the car before breakfast. That defrosts all the windows and warms the interior nicely by the time I'm ready to go.