De-icing a car windscreen using hot water in a bag method

[Hosoan]

Has anyone used this method to de-ice a car windscreen, where you use a plastic bag of hot or warm water and move it over the windscreen to melt the ice?
If so has anyone experienced cracking of the windscreen? I know it's a risk but am not sure how much of a risk.
I am aware not to just pour water over as it can freeze on the ground making it slippery, but using a bag avoids that.
Any experiences please

Why can't you just use an ice scraper?

I just use spray de-icer (trigger spray type, not the aerosol deodorant can type). Hot water poured on is fine but just don't use kettle hot / boiling or anything close to it, it needs to be warm or you run the risk of cracking.

I saw my neighbour doing it this morning! He said it's the best way. Just use ever so slightly lukewarm water and tie the bag up so it doesn't spill onto the floor. He said if the ice is thick and will take ages with a scraper, this is the next best bet!

It takes for ever and your hands freeze.
Luke warm water in a zip lock bag does the job in seconds.

Big jug of hot water from the tap (so not boiling) has done the job perfectly for me for the last 25 years, and nary a cracked windscreen in sight. Couldn't be faffing around trying to get it into a bag and roasting my hands in the process 😂

Yes, do this every time, large ziplock bag, fill with warm water from tap (not boiling) and wipe the windows with it.

I start the car, put the fans on inside, and then go round and wipe all the windows slowly with the bag, it keeps your hands warm and also you can press it onto your mirrors (if you haven't got heated ones) to clear those as well, I THEN slightly open the zip of the bag and go around the car and pour the now luke warm liquid over each window to clear any little bits (doing the screen last with the wipes on so it doesn't freeze again).

The beauty of it is you are warming up the windows so it is also demisting inside at the same time (which scraping doesn't do), I haven't scraped my windows for at least 2 years, and once I've done my routine I can leave with a completely clear car, inside and out, normally passing people who have only scraped a 'window' of space to see out of!

I keep an empty 4 litre milk carton for just this. Fill it up with warm water, pour over windscreen and any other windows, then put windscreen wipers on for a couple of wipes. Have been doing it for years. Never had a cracked window.

I wear mittens or gloves, all the other methods people are sharing seem such a faff. Might investigate the trigger spray as well

Just spray some de-icer?🙄

Yes I have and it works well. You don’t need it boiling hot straight from a kettle.

I used to use the 'pouring warm water over the windscreen' method, but it would refreeze as I drove along, so I'd end up with a thin film of frozen water on the windscreen. Diesel car, so it takes AGES for the blowers to get warm! Now I use whatever I have to hand, sometimes deicer, sometimes warm water in something.

I use the warm water in a bag (I keep plastic bread bags for this purpose) and it’s working v well.

I put a fan heater on the centre armrest in my car the night before and turn it on 20 minutes before I need to leave in the morning. Clear windows inside and out, plus a warm car.

I favour the 'pouring hot, but not boiling water over the windscreen' method, as de-icer gets on my chest and makes me feel wheezy (even though I'm not asthmatic). I've never cracked a windscreen, or slipped on any resulting ice on coming home. It's much quicker than trying to butcher it with a scraper.

Windscreen cover for a fiver from lidl. No scraping, deicing or faffing

1. you might not have any. 🙄
2. some people don’t like using the chemicals. 🙄

HTH

I wouldn't risk it. I turn my car on, spray and scrape. It takes ages though.

I fill a hot water bottle, stick it on the dashboard half an hour before I need to leave and it's done when I come out and go.

This. Ours is a full over-the-top job and is known as the Car Pyjamas.

Same. I use a little watering can of warm water.

I do this. Make sure the water is only just warm though, not hot.

Whichever method you use - water in a bag or pouring from a bottle - the key is lukewarm. Never use actually hot water.

The windscreen freezes at 0°, so if you used water that's even only 15 or 20°, that should be plenty warm enough to unfreeze it. I'd go a bit warmer personally, but nothing too major.

Windscreens are made as standard worldwide, so if you lived in a very hot country, the summer rain could fall at quite a high temperature - and nobody would ever expect that to crack a windscreen.

Please don’t leave your engine running while
you de-ice. An idling car can produce twice the amount of harmful omissions as a driving car. It’s also now a fine-able offence - the law changed around this relatively recently.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/winter-driving/dont-get-fined-for-de-icing-your-car/

I use a hot water bottle and fill it up at the same time I'm making my coffee. When I've finished de-icing the car, you can pop it on your lap until the heating kicks in.
The nylon windscreen things work well too, but the issue I had was that I didn't always have somewhere to dry it off during the day and keeping it in the car just added to the condensation issues.

Engine running is part of the de-icing process. You can't drive off until the inside is de-misted as well, although obviously only on a private driveway.