Defrosting the car

[DustyLee123]

It really winds me up when people leave the engine running for ages, and windscreen wipers going full pelt, instead of just defrosting the car with water/scraper and going.

And mine isn’t left running for 15-20 minutes!

I propose she doesnt do it in the 10 minute window where hundreds of children are walking past to go to school,

Whenever she does it there are going to be children and people around.

It's to de mist tbe windscreen inside. My partner is outside doing our cars right now

@TheCadoganArms a bit twatty yes but what are the other options? If your car needs defrosting, it needs defrosting. Scraping also creates an annoying sound.

Margotrose, school run is particularly busy with kids,before or after that perhaps?!

@Sk8erboi so she should rearrange her day to ensure she doesn't run her car during a window when loads of other people are running their cars.

Classic entitled behaviour

If you read my OP you’ll see that I’m talking about cars running for ages, not for a couple of minutes to demist. And using air con cuts this time down.
My neighbour has had his car running, and his wipers going full, for 15 minutes this morning while he was in the house.

Yes there will but in this particular location - opposite a primary school - the time she does it is school run time where there are hundreds more people than 10 mins before or 10 mins after.
We live in a village so it's not a main road or town where there would be lots of people milling about at all times.
This is another reason she's selfish as she could tweak her routine very slightly and not have loads of children breathing in her exhaust fumes on their way to school.

I thought I was being the opposite of selfish by ensuring that my car is safe to drive. I pour tepid water over my windows while the engine runs. It takes about 5 mins for the windscreen to completely demist but it has to be done!

This.

Are people purposely being obtuse? It is obvious the OP is talking about people who just leave the engine running for 10/15/20 minutes whilst trying to clear the windscreen with nowt else but the wipers.

She isn't talking about people who scrape for a few minutes whilst having the engine running.

Damn, I wish I hadn't clicked on this thread- I thought it was a completely normal thing to do. Now that I know it upsets some people I'll add it to my list of stuff to worry about. Bugger.

My 12 year old car took 12 minutes to fully clear and defrost this morning. The inside was sopping wet.

She is turning the engine on and going back inside, what difference would it make to go outside and switch her car on 10 mins earlier than she does now?

best bit about an electric car - I can put mine on to heat up/demist for 10 minutes using my phone.
and no fumes, obviously

Nobody is expecting perfect silence as their neighbours get ready for their commute but leaving an engine ticking over with the heaters on full tilt for long enough to defrost the car takes ages. Scraping the car takes a few minutes. Throw into the mix the morons who leave the radio on as well it amounts to pretty pretty selfish behaviour.

Of its just on the outside, I pour water/de-icer and scrape. If its in the outside as well, I have to run the car, which I obviously don't like doing. I have bought a cover for my car, but forgot to put it on last night, so warm water is coming out lol

I’m sure she doesn’t time it for the school run to cause maximum disruption 🙄

Generally the school run also coincides with when most people are travelling to work anyway.

That's great for you. But many people; myself included, can't afford to buy a new car.

My DC walk past stationary traffic on the way to school every morning. Lots of exhaust fumes. They're hard to avoid with cars tbh.

Mine's the same. Thankfully, I rarely have to drive anywhere early in the morning - another benefit of WFH.

People have to get to work. Sorry for waking you up. 🙄

I kept one of those dehumidifier things with the crystals in my old car. It helped a lot.

Given that vehicle idling is an actual traffic offence, I think it's acceptable to find it annoying.