Removing Ice from car

[TiG]

While I was doing this first thing this morning I wondered how do people remove ICE from their cars in the morning?

I thought a little poll would be good.

Me i'm definitely a luke warm kettle followed by a bit of scraping to make sure is all cleaned off.

How do you clean yours?

TiG

[Russ]

warm water and frozen glass can be a VERY deadly conbonantion. We usually get in, turn heaters on, and spray abit of de-icer... god that makes us sound lazy.

[Tumble]

de-icer. turn engine/heaters on full blast. Go back into the warm for a cup of tea....

[Ravens Nest]

de-icer. turn engine/heaters on full blast. Go back into the warm for a cup of tea....

See someone driving car away, as keys were in ignition & trying to run after them with cup of tea in hand slip spilling contents over yourself

I just scrap all the ice with a scraper, give the inside windows a wipe or scrape (Depending on how cold it is) and be on my merry way.

[XTR]

Well this morning i got in.... engine on... heaters on full... even put the air con on.. rear heated window

grabbed the freeeeeeeeezing cold tin of De-icer.... gave it a squirt... then decided to put my wipers on.. then realised that its proper ice and has probably trashed my wipers... so i looked around the car for the scraper.... gave it a bit of a scrap and got back in the car.... all clear

[Flibb]

Im just a scraper man myself. Start the engine then scrape the sides first, that gives time for some of the hot air to melt the front and back screens. Not sure if it was total BS, but I was told that its a bad idea to use front heated screens to melt the ice, something to do with the thermal shock breaking the screen. Becasue the wires are so fine they have to get a lot hotter than those in rear screens, anybody else heard this??
Flibb

[5lab]

i *try* to get me flatmate (we lift share) to drive in when its frosty (which is unusual - 2nd morning this year today), cos my cars old and isnt as keen on the cold weather.. it'll work - it just puts a lot more wear on the engine..

[Angus]

I want one of the diesel rover 75/ZT with timed parking heater.

Set the time you want to leave and it defrosts your car for you .

[Raz316]

start the car, heaters on full, plug my heated scraper into the cigarette lighter, and scrape away

[Flibb]

Thers a variation on that heater system where you can phone it andit pre-warms the inside and the engine. Works via the hot water system. They are very popular in sweden and norway in 4x4's.
Flibb

[Allen]

Walk to bus stop.

No need to mess about scraping a car then. Hehehe!

[5lab]

i've not yet understood why cars dont have some sort of heating element for the engine as standard - wouldnt be hard to put it in the oil sump and it could just turn on for the first 3 mins the engine is running - the engine would warm up faster and thus use less petrol and wear less..

[Zak33]

in Sweden, pre heaters like that 5lab are common...

small electric heater and pump in water cylinder jacket in engine block, plug in when you park to a little post on your driveway....low votage all night, car starts and runs first time, and no more flat batteries...very efficient on fuel and totally reliable.

most Fire Engines have them,even in England...its a quick release plug..drive off, and it falls out...its in the Fire Station near you NOW !

Neat huh?

In my car, air to SIDE VENTS, and air recirc on....let engine idle for 1 minute then revs to 2000....hold...when air starts getting warm, recirc off, redirect to windscreen....done in 5 minutes...and natch by then heated rear window and mirrors are done...

then once all defrosted, heat OFF screen to stop it getting too hot

[Skii]

I drive to work as fast as possible completely iced over, eventually friction melts the ice

[Zak33]

good plan.....very very efficient too

[5lab]

by the way - anyone know if the 'evening before' de-icer works? i got some for xmas but i've not actually used it yet cos i dont watch the weather enough to know when its gonna be frosty..