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.

It might be they haven't had any work done on the heating system in the car. We have just replaced parts of ours ready for winter as the car is five years old, so quite inefficient. It's a quick change and we check the fuses for everything at the same time.

My car has the crappiest demister in the world and even full blast with the air con on it can often take at least 10 minutes to clear.

I live in a cold country and own a crap old car and don't find any need to leave it idling for ages if it's frosted up. I do turn it on whilst I'm doing the scraping but it doesn't take that long.

Sometimes it's necessary to scrape the inside too if it's iced inside or misted - I just use the same scraper as we have for the outside. I don't know, the blade on the scraper seems to work fine inside, although it's a bit more tricky to use on a concave surface.

Yes scraping is a PITA but it doesn't take 10 minutes.

Unfortunately mine is damp because I’m a dog walker and my car is always full of damp towels or damp dogs! Seat covers make no difference either.

Everyone has different cars, different lifestyles, different timetables and different shit going on in the morning.

You all have way too much time on your hands to be monitoring what someone else is doing with their car and getting so worked up about it.

Anybody who expects to not be disturbed by general outdoor noise, like a car running, on a weekday from about 7:30 onwards is deluded.

If my car is extremely frozen and misted inside, I will give it a spray and run the engine for ten minutes. I will do this at a time that suits me so it is safe to drive when I need to leave. If you do it too early it can re freeze and get misty again which defeats the object of forward planning.

Demisting windows takes ages? No it doesn’t! Wipe them with a chamois!

It doesn’t work. It just smears all the moisture and dirt all over the glass making it impossible to see anything!

If our garages weren’t too tiny and full of junk we could keep cars in them

So the death penalty for having to leave at a certain time.
You are so far beyond reasonable that you have entered the land of lunatic twattery. But won't someone think of the CHILDRUN!

The Highway Code is a guide to the law. In this case, it has missed out the fact that the relevant regulations allow you to leave a vehicle unattended with the engine running in some circumstances.

😂

I defrosted mine a little before i needed to and when i went to set off it had frozen again
You're being ridiculous

It's illegal to drive with your windows misty even if you do use water to defrost your windows.

Does no one use a cloth or a chamois on the inside? I do, sure it still mists and needs a bit of time but it's like maybe 2 minutes not 10+?

Having said that, I've just told my colleague I miss my Ford with the built-in windscreen defroster!

Persoanlly I think running it on your driveway or the road for 2 mins before driving away is fine. Running it for 10 minutes or longer is just rude, especially if it’s very early in the morning when people are in bed.

The way Indi it is to use warm water from tap (not boiling) and turn engine on and donwindscreen wipers. I’m in the car within 1 minute of starting. Quick wipe with the chamois sponge de-fogs the inside and with AC running on high and directed at window, we are driving away within 2 mins of leaving the house.

I wouldn’t leave it running for longer.

we are driving away within 2 mins of leaving the house. I wouldn’t leave it running for longer.

Even if the car was still misted up and you couldn't see?

I do scraping but still need to sit inside the car with the engine running for a while whilst the insides demist.

My old car used to heavily ice up on the inside.

Indeed. They fill the time nicely in-between the Halloween Hate / Feck Fireworks threads and the It's-FC-not-Santa! threads.

Public service announcement: a car windscreen cover for windscreens. Available from Amazon or other retailers. Life changing. I smugly pull off the cover, jump in the car and go within 90 seconds while neighbours spend ages and risk cracking their windscreens with hot water.

https://www.diy.com/departments/HILLINGTON-Reversible-Windscreen-Cover---Magnetic-Windshield-Snow-Cover-with-Side-Wing-Mirror-Cover,-Frost-Guard-for-Cars--Trucks/5060497646612_BQ.prd?&&&&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADt-XHlKj1VCfh2MwPznxwWXZgZ_x&gclid=Cj0KCQiA35urBhDCARIsAOU7QwmqIo3U07r6s_uy1p2Aw0kgiYrpvjRoGuJFPMfumhxw2jtICqgH4LoaAsUGEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

The wording of the relevant construction & use regulation is a little obscure and doesn't specifically mention defrosting a windscreen, but you are allowed to leave the engine running where you need it for some purpose other than driving the car. Defrosting the windscreen so you can drive the car legally qualifies as a purpose other than driving the car.

But 2 mins is enough when using warm water on the outside and a cloth on the inside windows.

I suppose some people want their AC to do all the work - they don’t want to scrape,use water or de-iced ir a cloth on the inside. They want to get into a toast car and simply drive away without doing anything. I guess achieving that takes more than 2 mins of AC alone.

If you’re talking about leaving the house at 6am then running it for 10/15 mins does seem inconsiderate of neighbours, when there are other ways to get the car ready without that noise for that length of time. The later it is, the less inconsiderate it seems. I suppose the more built-up an area we are in, the more we need to be aware of living cheek-by-jowel and try to consider others and not just what suits us. But lots of people don’t seem at all interested in that.

Putting the sun visors down makes the windscreen demist/defrost faster.

But 2 mins is enough when using warm water on the outside and a cloth on the inside windows.

It might be enough for you and your car, but many posters have explained it takes longer for their cars to demist so they can drive safely. I would love if it only took 2 minutes, I don't enjoy deicing / demisting the car, but it takes longer for my car and I won't drive away until it's safe to do so.

This topic really doesn't bring out some batshit replies. Who replaces their car heating system "for winter"? what bits are getting replaced?
Or do you just mean the pollen filter which is part of the normal service schedule anyway. As for "checking the fuses" - fuses are either working or blown - if they blow you will know as something electrical stops working - there is nothing worth checking in a fuse box.

Somehow I doubt insurance companies are so sanguine.

If your car gets nicked because you left it unattended with the ending running, then you won't get any money from the insurance.