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

[shinysnowman]

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!)

Maybe you should have included these lines first to give context!

So you start the engine, whack on the heater and head back into the warm house while the ice melts away

Anyways don’t do it in Yorkshire as the police there do give out fines

The rest of the article:

So how should I defrost my car?

Turn on the engine

It sounds obvious, but before you do anything get your engine on. The most effective way of de-icing your car is to turn on the heater and let the warm air circulate.

Get rid of any snow

Use a brush to wipe off all the snow from the car, making sure the front grille is clear.

Start de-icing the outside

Make sure you keep a scraper and some de-icer in the car for mornings when you are stuck. As the engine warms the car from the inside get scraping from the outside. Don’t wipe windows with your hands - your mitts will leave greasy smudges.

“ A police spokesman explained: "Anyone who needs to defrost their vehicle must ensure they stay with it and don't leave it unattended with the keys inside.”

It seems that a police spokesperson agrees with me that scraping the windows whilst the engine is running is not “unattended”. So warnings of fines are not really valid in this situation. Far more convincing are the arguments about the environment and health - looking for alternatives if they work for your car is really sensible

inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/cars/de-icing-car-land-fine-penalty-points-166779

This article states not being in the car isn’t allowed, but I don’t know if it’s tri or not?

My friend left hers running to warm up while she went in to get her kids and the car was nicked. Insurance wouldn't pay out

You could keep earplugs by your bed, for use on frosty mornings.

Yabu

1. You have to run the car to de mist it
2. If it is actually still freezing and you don't run the car it just freezes back up again

Only on MN are there magical demisting cars. Revving is ridiculous though totally unnecessary.

I am also confused about you being upset by the car engine but not by the scraping. It is scraping that wakes me up,

Why do you seem to think we can't "deal" with our cars when we are doing exactly that?

Well you aren't - your car is taking the piss by freezing up and then misting inside. Deal with it .

You'd hate me OP. I can start my car remotely via an app to defrost it while I stay indoors 😂.
It won't unlock or drive away without the key, so no danger of it getting stolen

Please be careful using water - a neighbour of mine did that and it froze to black ice on the pavement- I slipped, fell badly and broke my coccyx, couldn't imagine how bad it could've been if an older person had fallen and got hurt.

You'd hate me OP. I can start my car remotely via an app to defrost it while I stay indoors 😂

Awesome!

@Inniu absolute best thing about my EV.

I've an older Leaf and I can set a timer so it defrosts itself at a set time every day for me. 😍

As I sit here, my neighbour has been running his massive motorbike for no practical reason at all. It's the extremely loud and mid-life crisis sort of bike.

It is 10degrees outside and he keeps it in his warm, dry garage. I am behind brick walls, closed double glazed windows and have the radio on and I can easily hear it rumbling clearly.

I'm on 12 minutes and counting according to my phone stopwatch.

If you want to talk "unnecessary" then this is that. It trying to clear a windscreen to be able to drive safely.

16 minutes now.

Oh god at the back of a house I lived in several years ago there was a barn where a man stored a classic car of some kind (he lived elsewhere) and on lovely sunny days, when you were sitting outside and had the back door and windows open, he would get the car out and rev it for 45 minutes (or longer if he was doing something unexplained to it) before going out for a drive. It was so antisocial

20 minutes and still going

The sun is now out as we head towards 30minutes of motorbike rumbling, with occasional very sharp revs thrown in

@BuzzShitbagBobbly this is the exact behaviour I started this play about, not the normal people who demist their windscreen!

Play??? Thread!

I honestly shit you not, that fucking bike has now been running a full hour. He's not out there with it either.

I dont think hes running it cause of cold...

I've just gone out to load up my car. The noise is really reverberating around all the houses here. Bike owner is nowhere to be seen. I'm across the road so I can only imagine what it's like for people right alongside

I'm going out now, so this thrilling live stream has to end, but it's at 1hr 15minutes and counting.

Go and sit on the bike. I bet he appears pronto

How long did he leave it for?

Not sure Jamie. I left it at the 1h 15min mark. Could have been seconds, could have been hours longer.