I had a new job on top of my to-do list yesterday morning.
Ice and frozen snow on the screen, snapped my scraper jabbing away at it, so I poured some tepid water on it and hit the wipers upon which the blades promptly tore from the arms.
My wife puts some very warm water in a sealable plastic bag which she then wipes over the glass.
My car has a windscreen heater and the blower doesn't take long to get warm so I just listen to the radio for a few minutes whilst the car readies itself and maybe scrape the mirrors, side windows and rear glass clear. I never touch the blades, they stick and tear if not careful, and if careless the blades promptly tear from the arms.
Rule one. Always check the blades ain't stuck to the screen before switching on. You can check this by lifting them off the screen against the springs while scraping etc the ice off.
Rule two. Always check the automatic windscreen wiper setting is off before turning on the ignition, or the sensor may interpret scraping the windscreen or pouring tepid water on the windscreen/blades as "rain".
I just run the engine with the heater, screen and rear window demisters turned on and the heated seats. An advantage of living in the sticks. The other car has a phone app which allows me to preheat the interior on preset days at preset times or immediately, which is equally delicious
My auto-wipers cancel themselves, even if left on auto, fast or slow, if the ignition is switched off. The wiper switch has to be moved to reselect them. A constant annoyance and I've always wondered why, but frozen wipers seems to explain it doing that, though I suppose the system could just check the temperature outside before inhibiting them.
Imagine what waiting for the heaters to defrost the screen will be like when you can only have an electric car.
It might be OK at home, where you might be able to bring some warm water or maybe a hairdryer to the car. But what if you're frozen-up miles from home and have to rely on what's in the battery to get you there.
One of the secrets, is the right kind of scraper. There are many items like this that you can buy, that don't measure up to the name, including those hand-scrapers that are just a bit bigger than your hand. These are made with a wooden handle, which resists snapping. The brush on one end, you can use that until the bristles curl up on it. The blade, hardly ever breaks. Occasionally a corner will snap on one, if you try and score too-thick ice.
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The other thing, is keep a Windex trigger bottle with this stored in it. You can use this stuff, four seasons. But also put some in a used Windex bottle, for deployment as necessary (like before fitting keys to ignition). This stuff freezes at -45C. If the jets are frozen on the windshield washer, your portable solution can get things started. The brand doesn't matter, we have several colours and green is the one you want, pink and blue are no good. Green is -45C, blue is -35C, pink is summer.
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You don't want to go with anything too caustic, because of the potential for damage to the drain channels or the frame around the windshield. There are probably a few chemicals that would make great ice melters, that would not be healthy for where the fluids drain. The green stuff is pretty tame.
As for using heated liquids on the windshield, that's pretty safe when the windshield is still bedded down on the sealant. It's when the windshield frame steel rusts and raises a "bump" under the windshield and the rusty "bump" touches the windshield, that's bad. That will cause windshield failures. Many lazy windshield replacement shops will ignore the damage to the frame and not tell you. I had to go to a small family shop, where the guy phoned me up while doing the job and told me what a mess it was. And he sanded it down flush ("angle grinder") and put a new finish on the frame, then sealant and windshield, and no more broken windshields after that. That doubles the cost of the job. The idea is, the windshield has to be "floating on sealant" to work properly. Then heated water won't hurt it.
I have noted that my more energy efficient diesel car takes much longer to warm up than the previous petrol ones I had. I treasure an ice scraper with a metal blade that I bought in Sweden that has a metal blade. I do have to be careful not to scratch the side windows.
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