Screen wash jets constantly freezing and it is being a pain now

Car_54

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Sea_Shell said:

Bit tricky to do that on the motorway 😉

True - although if the screen is seriously dirty then it's easy enough to pull off at the next junction - or services - and clean it.

Not all that easy. When I used to drive on motorways on winter mornings, the taps at the filling stations were always frozen.

Mutton_Geoff

Goudy said:

Quite often the nozzles freeze as they are in the air flow and suffer terrible windchill as you drive along, so even if the screen wash is fairly concentrated the tiny amount in the nozzles can still freeze while the rest in the pipes and reservoir don't.

Not true, since wind chill is a factor of evaporation of moisture from skin of humans/animals. If anything, they will be subject to ram rise heating which will warm them up at speed although this will be negligible until you reach 200mph 

baser999

OP have you tried pouring or spraying a little warm water over the jets themselves, rather than assume it’s the screen wash that’s the problem? Any liquid in the nozzle could easily be freezing thereby preventing any jet.

Ebe_Scrooge

Car_54 said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Sea_Shell said:

Bit tricky to do that on the motorway 😉

True - although if the screen is seriously dirty then it's easy enough to pull off at the next junction - or services - and clean it.

Not all that easy. When I used to drive on motorways on winter mornings, the taps at the filling stations were always frozen.

I know what you mean.  Just to clarify though - what I was meaning was you can pull off the motorway to a safe place and use the bottle of water and sponge that you've got with you to clean the screen

facade

Goudy said:

Quite often the nozzles freeze as they are in the air flow and suffer terrible windchill as you drive along, so even if the screen wash is fairly concentrated the tiny amount in the nozzles can still freeze while the rest in the pipes and reservoir don't.

As others point out, it isn't windchill, but I get what you mean.

It is actually the alcohol evaporating into the wind, which is cooling down the remaining water from the diluted screenwash to the point that it freezes.

Parking up for a few minutes, or crawling in traffic will allow the heat from under the bonnet to thaw the water out and the jets will clear. (until they have diluted screenwash through them again)

The answers are

1) heated washer jets to prevent the screenwash freezing. (All cars should have them, but buyers seem more interested in useless tinsel like alloy wheels than genuinely useful stuff like heated washer jets & mirrors so most cars don't have them)

2) Use concentrated screenwash/neat alcohol. It will still evaporate and cool, but the hope is there is insufficient water to freeze a plug in the end of the jet. The problem is modern eco-paint is barely even rain-proof, concentrated screenwash can mark the paint.

3) never ever touch the washer unless it is an absolute emergency

Heating the washer fluid won't work because the ice is forming a plug at the very outside of the washer jet once the flow stops.

I think it is only a problem in the UK (and possibly Canada) because of the  massive amounts of corrosive salt mixed with sand that we apply to the roads, it is the salt flung up from other vehicles that is dirtying the screen, so heated washer jets are not required and therefore don't make it to standard specifications

Grumpy_chap

facade said:

I think it is only a problem in the UK (and possibly Canada) because of the  massive amounts of corrosive salt mixed with sand that we apply to the roads, it is the salt flung up from other vehicles that is dirtying the screen, so heated washer jets are not required and therefore don't make it to standard specifications

What do other countries with similar climates use to keep the roads clear of ice?

I suspect the issue could be mitigated to a large extent by the compulsory fitting of mud flaps front and rear to all vehicles - the reduced spray would also improve visibility and, hence, road safety (I suspect).  A bit like your view on heated nozzle jets, I think mud flaps should be compulsory. 

Can the savings made by not having alloy wheels cover the costs of heated jets, heated wing mirrors and mud flaps?

Bigwheels1111

I loved the -60 stuff, I’ve run out to.
But the jets on my Vectra still froze on the motorway, radio said -15, so wind chill must have been extreme.
Using Halfords-10 berry without issue so far.

Iceweasel

Grumpy_chap said:

What do other countries with similar climates use to keep the roads clear of ice?

Austria for example doesn't spread salt if the temperature goes below -5

BUT - everyone must fit Winter tyres from 1st of November to April.15th

AND - their motorways, main roads and even the country roads are so smooth that the ploughs are within 5mm or even less above the road surface.

In Germany you must fit Winter tyres if it snows or temperature falls below zero.

cannugec5

“Did  you know that if your windscreen washers are frozen in this cold weather, even though they are fully topped up then this is still a criminal offence carrying a £50 fine as a minimum. If this affects your view of the road ahead and you are then involved in a collision then this could constitute using the vehicle in a dangerous condition and you could get points on your licence and be reported to the Procurator Fiscal.”

This is a direct quote from a Facebook post from our local Police Force today. 

ididgetwhereiamtoday

It’s even worse on electric cars as there is no engine to warm the front of the car up. They should have heated jets as standard for this reason.