Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think people can defrost their cars without running their engine all morning?

601 replies

shinysnowman · 04/12/2019 07:12

I start work in a couple of hours. I have been awake since 5am, due to a steady flow of neighbours who have sat in their car with their engine running, one actually revving their engine constantly, waiting for their car to defrost. The first at 5am, each for a good 15 minutes each. It's been the same every day this week.

Don't people scrape their cars anymore? Is it wrong for me to be annoyed and think that they are being inconsiderate?

(Apologies to those with DC who are dragged up with them at this time!)

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
ReceptacleForTheRespectable · 04/12/2019 07:34

My car has a heated windscreen so have to run the engine

Bollocks. You can still use a scraper!

Besidesthepoint · 04/12/2019 07:34

@ReceptacleForTheRespectable
What is your solution for my car please?

EmmaGrundyForPM · 04/12/2019 07:34

@lilonetwo every house round here has good quality double glazing, if your windows aren't open then you can't hear anything. Our house is further forward than our neighbours so our house blocks noise from our driveway. Plus our neighbours on either side sleep at the back of their houses so are nowhere near our driveway. We don't have any neighbours directly opposite. And I'm.usually doing it at 7.15 not 5.15 which i think is reasonable

I think it depends on individual circumstances. Most cars don't have heated windscreens so you have to run the car for a bit to demist the inside.

Our neighbours to one side are quite grumpy, they would tell us immediately if we were disturbing them.

BlaueLagune · 04/12/2019 07:34

I think people can do a lot of things without leaving their engines running for what seems like hours, but clearly not.

I de-ice manually with a scraper, not sure it is that noisy, but de-misting is a real problem. It won't do it effectively while the car is stationery. But why on earth would you want to move the car while you can't see? Ludicrous.

I have used warm water (not hot) as well without problem. Except that if it is really cold it freezes up again and it's a very thin ice you can't scrape off easily.

If I know it's going to be cold and I need to get away quickly I put a duvet cover over the windscreen to stop ice forming on it.

SimonJT · 04/12/2019 07:35

My car freezes on the inside, even on days it doesn’t it takes a good five minutes of the engine running for the window to be clear of condensation to safely drive. If I wiped with a cloth etc the condensation would quickly return which would mean constant pulling over.

I don’t use my car very often, but I’m not going to risk driving dangerously.

ReceptacleForTheRespectable · 04/12/2019 07:36

There is no other way to get the inside of the car clear enough to safely drive away. It's just 'one of those things'

This is also bollocks

Solina · 04/12/2019 07:37

Unfortunately this is part of winter. Can't say it bothers me much. Also, I don't drive to work so am not saying this because I am one of those people leaving their cars on for 15 mins.

CareOfPunts · 04/12/2019 07:39

You need to run the engine to put on the heated windscreen though. I put on my engine but I scrape the car as well.

Just idling the engine and going back in for a cuppa is lazy though and if they’re doing it on the public road I think might also be an offence

funmummy48 · 04/12/2019 07:39

I scrape the outside, which takes only a minute but I matter how much I wipe the insides, I need to have the engine and fans on to clear the windscreen so that I can see to drive safely. Driving off with a blurry windscreen on a dark morning, I could kill someone. I'll take waking someone with my engine over causing an accident, any day.

GiveHerHellFromUs · 04/12/2019 07:39

Just get some ear plugs if it's that much of an issue.
It's icy - it's shit. Nobody wants to be defrosting their car at 5am and it's much quicker to warm the car up and demist while you're scraping.

WaterSheep · 04/12/2019 07:40

This is also bollocks

Really? Even cars with heated windscreens have to be running to actually demist the window. How can you clear the inside without turning the car on?

Gatehouse77 · 04/12/2019 07:41

I thought pouring hot water on the windscreen was likely to make it crack.

Boiling water might but hot water from the tap hasn't for me in over 30 years.
One idea I saw was to fill a plastic bag with hot water and run that over the ice - means you don't get drips. I tried it and it worked!

CareOfPunts · 04/12/2019 07:41

Bollocks. You can still use a scraper!

You can but why would you when you have a heated windscreen? That’s kind of the point of having one. Tbh the noise of the engine isn’t any worse than the constant noise of scraping

CareOfPunts · 04/12/2019 07:42

I also find a chamois better than a cloth for de misting the inside

Aridane · 04/12/2019 07:45

Pretty sure they are heading back inside for a cuppa

And? Makes sense if car needs a set time for windows to decide. Should they be standing to attention in the cold? Does it make any difference to the sound of the engine running?

YABU

Tumbleweed101 · 04/12/2019 07:46

My car has a problem with the fans so demisting is a real problem some days. It isn’t the ice on the outside that’s the problem. It’s the inside that most people have a problem with sorting.

speakout · 04/12/2019 07:46

I run my car while scraping- often that means scraping the inside of the window too, I also have a problem wih windows misting up again once wiped I need a source of warm air to keep them clear as I start to drive.
If I scrape and go with a cold engine I will have to find a place to stop to wipe the inside of my windows again, and that may mean driving with limited visibility for a few minutes- dangerous in my view.
I start a journey with a source of warm air, and that means running my engine for a while.
Buy some ear plugs.

ThunderboltandLightning · 04/12/2019 07:47

I turn it on and scrape. And I have a sponge cloth for accelerating the demisting of the inside. At that time of day, most people just want it done and to be on their way.

My car is on a driveway and set back on a private road. If your child is walking through my fumes, they are trespassing, and have really had to put the effort in to get to my fumes. Grin

EerieSilence · 04/12/2019 07:49

The estate where I live is extremely quiet but criminals copped on the habit of some people to leave the car running and defrosting while having a nice cuppa inside.
There were few cars stolen this way and the insurance won't pay because if you're an idiot who left the keys in the car, you make your insurance void.

dementedpixie · 04/12/2019 07:49

Last week it took me 15 minutes to scrape the car with the engine running as it had 2 days worth of frost on it that the scraper would not get through. The blowers on the windscreen helped to soften the frost so i could remove it

Weescot · 04/12/2019 07:49

You can de-mist the car without running the engine. Not on mine you can’t anyway

Oblomov19 · 04/12/2019 07:50

YABVU
Even scraping outside, and then using a cloth inside, whilst having already put fans on to de-mist still takes a few minutes to clear.

What are you actually suggesting these people do instead? Hmm

flouncyfanny · 04/12/2019 07:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

StealthPolarBear · 04/12/2019 07:51

Yes I can wipe the insides but they mist back up so the engine has to be on for a little while before it's safe to drive. People have said "bollocks" and other various comments but does anyone have a solution? I scrape the outsides too

flouncyfanny · 04/12/2019 07:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread