How to Quickly and Safely Defrost Your Windscreen

Defrost

Newer cars have defrosters, which are obviously designed for these types of situations. The best way to use them is to take the same aforementioned precautions as you would when using warm water. Allow your car to heat up first, and then turn the defrosters on to avoid any cracks brought about by a sudden change in temperature.

Leave your car running

Turn on your engine and leave the car running for a few minutes – this is an effective way of speeding up the melting of ice. Once the car has been running for a short time, you can turn on the air conditioning and start pumping hot air into the vehicle – don’t do this straight away, as it takes time for the air to heat up, and there’s no point flowing cold air around! You should also stay outside with your car while it is running – a lot of people return indoors to make a cup of tea or stay warm while the car heats up, but this provides ample opportunity for thieves to steal your unlocked, running car.

Scrape

The ice scraper will be much more effective after your car has warmed up.

Do not use warm water

Throwing warm water on your windshield may seem like the quickest way to remove the ice, because the warm water should simply melt the ice away. Unfortunately, this is not always how it works – if you throw warm water onto the windscreen, the sudden change in temperature could break the glass.

Preventative measures

There are a few measures you can take to save you the trouble of going through this process every time a frosty morning comes along.

If you check the forecast every day and see that it is likely to be cold in the morning, place a blanket or towel over the windscreen, and where possible, park in a garage. Even leaving the house slightly earlier to take care of any frost on your car can prevent you from being late for work.