I used to work for AutoWindscreens and have replaced windscreens that have cracked from pouring hot water on them but the underlying reason was always the screen already had some kind of damage like a stonechip so we always advised people not to do it
I'd like to, but I need to find such a car first (easier before the ice) then wait until gawd knows when for another cold spell. It's all thawed out now.
A flask of lukewarm water is my method of choice - literally takes seconds, completely clears the screen, and as long as it’s followed up with some de icer, and fast wipers, it doesn’t freeze up again. It even helps with the inside steaming up. Just watch for the puddle of water on the ground freezing over instead!
Yep, this is my preferred method.. the warm water also demists the inside. Agree you need to use the wipers as soon as the ice is melted... Need to pour it over quite slowly and evenly and get all the ice where the wipers go.. also peel the wipers off the glass before using them in case they're frozen on.
I got permanent clouding in a spot on my windscreen once, I put it down to me using very hot water out of the kettle one cold morning. I think it may have de-laminated slightly. I'm vary wary of doing it now.
The warnings came from the old windscreens, the early tempered and plain ones. They DO shatter when you put boiling water on them! The modern laminated ones are rather better at withstanding the temperature shock but, as you say, warm water that isn't boiling is the safest way. Also be careful if you've had a replacement windscreen that was a pattern part, not genuine. Some have a very thin layer of top glass that chips easily and is most likely more prone to cracking with the temperature shock.
In nearly 40 years of driving, I have yet to crack a windscreen by using warm water to de-ice it. But totally agree with your warning that the danger comes when said water runs onto the ground and then freezes almost instantly. And when you consider that old Derek from Vice Grip Garage tends to favour the blow torch method of de-icing the windows, I doubt hot water will do any harm at all!
A Hairdryer works well with a long enough extension lead. On windows locks and door seals. Had to use to thaw outside tap lately pipe well insulated and alright just tap not turning as washer frozen shut despite having one of those insulated covers. Cold water (below 3 C) rises so tap always freeze's first.
@@CaptHollister That the case then It would freeze at the bottom not on the top. Below 4 C the molecules become more open thus lighter so they rise. Why pipes burst as expands on freezing. Starts to freeze at 3 C. The only liquid that does this. Salt (sea) water at 10 C lower and solid ice at -10 C.
@@brettnelson7518no it’s the temperature difference and the glass usually already has a small chip in it or something. I saw a guy make a cup out of a glass vodka bottle that all he did was freeze, score, then pour boiling water over.
Been using warm water for years. Best bit is it helps demist the INSIDE of the screen too. Never once shattered a windscreen from it. Been told countless times by work colleagues etc. that "Oh you can't do that you'll crack the screen!". I simply ask them "Do you know OF anyone that that has actually happened to??", and they never actually do! When I used to drive taxis I actually did see another guy come out of the office with a literally just-boiled kettle and pour it on the thickly frosted windscreen of a Fiat Doblo taxi one biting cold morning. I actually did kinda expect something bad to happen that time, but it didn't!
Even if you would pour it why it is still boiling from 15cm or so, it would touch the glass about 60C tops i would guess, i would do a video, with thermal cam, but i'm sure I will forget to do it :)
@@evlo8059 Hmm that's a good point actually, water does lose quite a lot of temperature when it's "in the air". Those videos of Alaskans, Siberians, Norwegians, basically folks in REALLY REALLY cold places of the world, doing that trick where they throw a cup of boiling water in the air and it's turned to ice droplets before it's on the ground show this.
Exactly! I've seen a few claim it happened to them, but this was probably stress damage that was already there anyway and would have eventually happened as a result of road vibration eventually anyway
Agree 100%. I've used warm water, usually a couple of plastic milk cartons full for 30 years. The 'crack' story is in my opinion just an old wives tale. The important thing is as well as taking the ice away that the water will raise the temerature of the glass above freezing for a few minutes and give you time to get the heater running. Seems sensibe to me but all week I've woken up to the sound of people in the street scraping car windows!
Same here. I don't use boiling water. Just warm from the tap. Quick, clean does the trick. Windscreen glass is tempered so makes sense it doesn't just crack. If it was severely cold (like in the interior of North America or Russia) and the water was boiling then possibly, but tap-warm water and the sort of temperatures you get in western Europe... yeah that's not going to be problem.
my father used hot (and sometimes boiling) water on his work car for 25 years until he got remote heating in every car. Not only did none of the about 15 cars develop cracks - he also did it on windscreens that had huge cracks in the first place.. nothing ever happened.
No Ian, it can ruin screens. Not crack them but what happened in one of my cars was using very hot water the windscreen laminate began to go milky between the glass. It took a few days to make this obvious and then it was too late. New windscreen. From now on my usual method is get in, run engine, and sit and wait. It took today [-3°c] 12 minutes from getting in to driving off and having warm air coming through the vents to defrost the windscreen. Side windows [passenger and driver] too. This period of time also enabled the engine to begin warming before setting off - along with hydraulic fluids etc. I don’t mind 12 minutes sat with warm seats [heated] rather than staying wrapped up walking in and out of the house with water, or scrapping the ice off [getting ice on jacket, which duly melts making jacket wet]. Patience. It’s all you need.
Great informative video, I’ve been using warm water during the frosty winter’s for 30 years plus and never had a problem, got to admit I do have a laugh at the people that spend a good 20 minutes scraping their screens and ending up with frostbite and getting in the car and wondering why all the interior windows are misting up which of course is the other added benefit of using warm water you don’t get your windows misting up so much if at all, keep up the great work on your brilliant channel Ian ! 🙂
Top tip! Park your car pointing towards the sunrise, problem solved. Alternatively plan ahead giving yourself plenty of time to scrape the screen and wear warm clothing and gloves!
Coming from the wilds of Kent, I was sometimes able to thaw out frozen door locks with body-temperature water from nature's reservoir. Then, sixty years ago, living in an isolated location, the risk of being observed and ending up as a byline in the Sunday papers was minuscule. Being a smallish chap, in my floriat, I was only 5' 9" in thick socks, this dodge worked on small cars like my 1960 Mini. Larger cars would have posed a problem, as the ballistics of delivery would have necessitated stepping back from the door, increasing the chances of attracting attention to my nefarious activity. As far as windscreens are concerned, I have used a washing-up bowl of luke-warm water, drawn from both the cold and hot taps, without incident since Macmillan was the prime minister! The water does not need to be near boiling point, just significantly warmer than the freezing.
You need to find a car that already has a small crack or chip on the windscreen, the temperature differential will stress it and cause it to grow considerably
Had a good chuckle watching this. I used to work in the engineering department of GM Buses in Manchesyer back in the days and the buses and coaches would all freeze up in the yard. Some of us would do the old welding rod trick before the drivers got in and put a thin rod on the inside of the screen before the drivers threw hot water on it to leave what appeared to be a mahusive crack in the screen 🤣🤣🤣
A very good point Ian about the water flowing onto the ground and freezing. On more than one occasion I've nearly slipped upside down when a car parked next to me has used water to clear the glass.
A chipped windsceen could potentially crack, but, if someone's driving about with a chipped windscreen anyway, it'll probably crack regardless if they don't get the chip filled or the glass replaced... :P
I agree A screen with a crack or chip already,might not enjoy the thermal difference when adding 90degree water to a frozen screen. But I have never worried about using hot water on a screen
Being a shift worker I don't want to wake the neighbours up by scraping so have always used warm water but maybe very hot water on an old toughened screen might break.
Didn’t see any “boiling “ water poured on to windscreen as title suggests🤔 You need to do this again but also do rear window which will probably shatter instantly. Good video anyway 👍
Well, there you go. Never done that. Like the rest of the internet, I thought it would break the window - especially on my classics. However, I am glad to see the practical application worked perfectly and will keep it in mind. We still get ice on the windscreen in Auckland, NZ midwinter, but the garden hose is usually enough to soften it and loosen the wipers up to clear the rest. There was one morning that driving down the road with the wipers going, the windscreen started icing up again (the ambient temp was zero degrees Celsius, so the wind chill would have been colder), but a shot of Bars Bugs from the windscreen washers cleared that off. I guess in other parts of the country (and indeed the world) where the weather overnight will freeze the water in the hose and put more than a few millimetres of ice plus frosting on the screen that warm water could be the saving grace. Again, many thanks!
I'm more of a 'fan' of letting the car warm up for 10 mins and letting its own heater do it - so you know for sure that you've got enough heat to stop it freezing back up again whilst on the move.
Depends on the rarity of the screen how much risk you are prepared to take. I'm cautious with the Safrane but worry less about the C2. Only use warm tap water though. Works well enough and less thermal difference to shock the glass.
it doesn't even need to be "warm". I've been defrosting my car this week with a mix of de-icer and barely tepid water. Needs to be hardly any heat in it at all, and the closer to cold it is the lower your risk of thermal shock cracking it.
As others have commented, the problem was probably connected to the use of toughened windscreens which were far more prone to shattering. In the '70's I was driving a Ford lorry on an extremely cold day. I left Bournemouth with a cold engine which had warmed up by the time I reached Ringwood. I turned the heater on to keep the screen clear and within seconds the screen shattered and blew in all over me. Most uncomfortable especially as I was wearing wellington boots and the shards of glass went down inside them.
Glad you mentioned the bit about it freezing on the ground, it makes this a bad idea. Best way is put warm water in a food bag and wipe it over the screen
Garage 54 has done an even more extreme test than this, pouring boiling water and then liquid nitrogen onto a windscreen frozen in a Siberian winter. One tiny crack at the bottom was all they achieved with their testing. I'd be interested to know if anybody has ever had glass break doing this.
That's what I was thinking of as well. They tried their best to crack it and failed. What I will say is, prior to the days of tempered glass being used in cars, I'd say cracking the glass was very much a possibility, which is where this came from in the first place I think.
Thanks Ian. I've been pouring warm water onto windscreens since 1981, and never had a breakage, even though some of them had stone chips. But I've never used anything warmer than about 'elbow hot' or hot tap water; about 55°C. On several occasions, the air temperature was around -20°C, but still no problems. As a matter of course I used to take a couple of 5 litre bottles of hot water, wrapped up in car blankets, on long journeys when working. These had two functions, as needed; warming the cabin and/or occupant at the end of a long day with the car standing, empty, and defrosting the windscreens before returning home. I've almost never bought de-icer, and rarely use a scraper. In the mornings, I'd hear people scratting away at their windscreens, while I'd go outside with a pan or kettle of water, pour it onto the screens, start the wipers, put the kettle back into the house, and drive away while the neighbours were still spraying and scraping. The dire warnings from those neighbours about broken windscreens were never fulfilled.
It comes from the old windscreen pre laminate. However, if your windscreen has a defect like a chip it could make it crack. I have seen this myself with a colleague.
Once in an emergency type situation I had to resort to some warm liquid I had available after a couple of cups of coffee… It works, but good idea to avoid the cabin ventilation inlet grill ;)
It probably depends on the state of the windscreen. It could theoretically crack the front windsreen. Side and rear are tempered glass so they would break from the small crack or scratch that would be the start of the crack anyway.
I use Warm water and pour it on the roof first so that cools it down even more. But i have seen a windscreen crack using boiling water on a mk2 cavalier so if in doubt don’t try it, good luck if you do 😬
It may be that this was once true when windscreens were rather more primitive, and the "knowledge" has been passed down unchanged. Other examples include never crossing your hands on the steering wheel, which was important in the very early days when hand throttles were the norm, and blipping the throttle when turning the ignition off, originally to get some petrol onto the spark plug to avoid condensation forming on it thus making the next day's work with the starting handle hopefully rather easier.
last I heard 'do not blip the throttle' when turning the engine off as it washes the cylinder walls with petrol allowing them to rust as the oil film is now missing.
Well done. I would love you to do a demonstration on good driving techniques in winter as I have seen watching you over the years your a very skilled driver
I haven't bought any de icer in 20 years Ian, I fill my thermos before leaving work on a night too if its icy. I've only ever used hand hot water must admit. It has the added advantage of de misting the inside of the glass too!
GOOD GRIEF, I've seen one crack from top to bottom using that method and it refroze, I use a hot water bottle filled with hottish water moving it slowly over the screen it takes longer but it works you just need to allow a bit more time. I think your method would be safer on the smaller side windows I would think the larger windscreen standing the sudden local temperature change could be a risk I'm not willing to take. PS or just cover it I have used an old shower curtain in the past worked a treat.
I was a work shop manager at a large Rover, Land Rover, Range Rover, Triumph, Vauxhall dealer ship in the 70's. All cars straight from factory were covered in wax protection which required steam cleaning (very hot) 🥵 to melt wax. Both Laminated & Toughened glass went through the same process, hundreds of times, never once did a glass break. The cars would be brought out of compound in depths of winter & be subject to hot blast of steam cleaning before being dispatched to my workshop for PDI. As I said not one cracked. Now whether or not today's glass is not up to the strength of the earlier glass I couldn't say. That's for you to decide, me, it's never gone wrong.
ive always used warm water from the tap to remove ice from the screen, with no problems :-) infact, the other day,it was minus-10c here in stockport, so i poured it on, used the wipers, then drove off, while the neighbours were sat in their cars for 20mins warming it up,lol.
Like many comments on here I tend to use hot water, often heated just below boiling in the kettle and topped up with a splash of cold. Helps to demist the interior too.
I've found that if you have a chip that already has radial cracks coming out of it, you then risk the cracks expanding outwards if you pour boiling water on that area. But you can destress the window first by pouring the boiling water on the opposite side of the windscreen. I would imagine that to get a laminated screen to crack you would need to hurl a bucket of boiling water all over the screen at once and hope the glass near the bonding to the body doesn't expand as quickly as the rest of the glass.
I think it depends on glass condition. I remember working at a garage many years ago, when someone used a kettle full of boiling water on the side window of a Austin Mini to defrost the window and door lock, the glass blew up like a bomb and it faded the paint where the water ran down. Warm / touch hot maybe ok when you think of a heated window on a car.
I remember my grandfather doing this to his old vauxhall chavette. Didn't crack the glass, but it left a lovely faded streak in the paint wherever the water touched it. It looked like he he'd tie dyed his car.
I use the kettle, but fill it from the warm tap which is cold when it starts running then gets hot so the water in the kettle is luke warm at best. I've done this for many years. Recently it was a 3 kettle day. All the best, Mart.
Ian, it's an urban legend based on facts, back from the days before tempered glass. I can remember back in the olden days 1955 +/- milk bottles cracking if run under the hot water tap!
@@HubNut What on earth does 'sickophant' mean? If you meant 'sycophant' it still doesn't make sense, and you spelt 'ambient' wrong! (Sorry, I'm just a grammar Nazi😂😂) Interesting subject by the way, I've always wondered about the hot water on cold glass scenario since my mom put a glass casserole dish, that had been in the oven, onto a cold surface - and it shattered!! Wondered if it would happen the other way round!.
@@2760ade sickophant is the channel name of gloomygoblin - RUclips does not show the channel name any more (on most systems). It shows your "handle". That's RUclips for you !!
Well, I am surprised and admit I’d listened to the older advice. I rarely use anything apart from the car blowers anyway, but Thankyou for sharing pal. Wishing yourself and Carly, along with the Hublets a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 👍👍👍👍🤜🤛🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🇬🇧🏴
My father often relates a story from when he worked at a coach builders, it was a cold day and he walked into the workshop from outside; a fitter had just polished a coach windscreen ready to fit it, my father touched the glass whilst remarking how clean it was and his cold finger caused the screen to shatter!
Nothing wrong with take one I think. Still, fun and useful consumer advice via a nice field experiment. Thank you, inching towards 100K on RUclips. That is going to be ace 😃
It would depend on the depth of any cracks or flaws in the glass. Whether the glass is stable when energy is applied depends upon the Griffith's Failure Criterion. The risk is that with deep cracks when heat or any other stress is applied to a local area, an existing deep crack (crack length in Griffiths equations) will grow - Griffith's criterion can be used to estimate the critical failure stress for a given crack length (depth). The risk arising from the use of water that is too hot is similar to continuing to drive a car across a severely bumpy surface while a stone chip is present in the windscreen. If the chip/crack is deep enough to be unstable, it will grow, if sufficient stress energy is applied. If the glass has no obvious flaws, moderately warm water shouldn’t be a great risk. With fond memories of Materials Technology taught by Professor James Gordon in the 1980’s at Reading University. He loved dramatic experiments and I recall theatrical demonstrations causing different materials to shatter under varying conditions, on occasions with the aid of liquid nitrogen.
Speaking of eccentric windscreen mechanisms, my dad used to have a nice 1990's C-class merc that had a particularly crazy windscreen wiper. The size of the windscreen was no different in size to the one in this video, yet it only had one wiper. Rather than the usual 90-odd degrees arcing movement that wipers normally make, this single particularly large wiper made what I can only describe as an "M" shaped movement of 180 degrees across the entire windscreen. Presumably, there was some clever cam as a part of the wiper motor but it was always interesting to watch! I can't say I've seen anything like it before or since, but I'm sure they exist elsewhere.
Great and informative video Ian, always wondered that myself, not that I would have tried on my own cars! Through I think I possibly did do it on my first car twenty years ago lol 🤣🤣
I use a watering can of warm water from the hot water tap underneath my combiboiler, so by the time I get to my car maybe 45-50°C. I start up the car, put on the rear-window and mirror defrost and all the lights, clear the windshield with warm water, put the wipers on, and then use the rest of the can to clear the sidewindows. I wouldn't risk using boiling water, even if it doesn't harm the windows, it can't be good for the paint and window rubbers.
Whenever I've done that it was just hot water from the tap. Not heated on the stove. worked just fine. I don't do it anymore because my car is parked too far away for me to want to haul water to it but back in the mid 2000's I used to just carry a jug of regular warm/hot water from the tap out to it.
I too use hand hot water, but in a zip-lock bag which I drape across the glass, effectively wiping away the ice. 1litre of warm water, thus contained is enough for the windscreen & side windows. When done, I then empty the now luke warm water onto the screen & wipers, so that they too are de-frosted. All of the above warms the glass sufficiently that it doesn't fog up when you get in & start breathing on it. Been using this method for decades without issue. One point to note, if it's really cold, say < -5C, it's best to use the wipers asap to clear water from the screen before it can re-freeze.
I like the warm to hot (but not boiling) water in a big ziplock bag method myself. You just wipe it over the windscreen and then do a swish of the wipers. Magic.
I remember my dad used to do this when I was a kid. I'd sit inside whist he poured boiling water on the toughened (pre-laminate) windscreen. Nothing bad ever happened that I remember, although I do clearly remember the day a stone from a passing car broke the same entire windscreen and my parents had to punch a hole in the glass to see where to drive.
never tried with boiling water before, but our hot water heater makes it come out of the tap literally steaming hot so its probably around the same tempature, assuming whatever pot of water you’re using is boiled inside, and carried to the vehicle a small distance, the cold air would cool it rather significantly id think, but of course thats what this video is for!
Domestic hot water only tends to be around 50 degrees or so, but will still steam. The first take here used water that had cooled a little. The second take (the first one you see) was much closer to boiling.
I have seen it happen, but it was on an old windscreen years ago, which probably wasn't even the original part and was with truly boiling water. I don't think it's quite such a problem with modern stuff, especially if you leave the water to cool off just a little bit (so it's decently hot, but not boiling). This was also in Canada, in winter not too far from Suffield, iirc. Very cold!
By the way congratulations both I also do the same with hot water now I'm sure the mith started somewhere so what happens if you did it too an older car like pre 1980s when glass was more fragile?
Along with everyone else it's something I've done on innumerable occasions without a hint of disaster, also worked on the lazy starter on an Alfa that I had which was often reluctant to turn over at low temperatures......
I've always used hot water but poured it on the roof edge first to take the sting out of it and poured slowly until all the ice has gone then pour directly on the glass to warm it up and then get the wipers going to dry the window until i can get a cloth on it for final drying
Tepid water works just fine - been doing it for decades with no issue. I wouldn't use hot as you do stand the chance of breaking the glass by thermal shock, albeit if the risk is quite a small one.
i've done the same for years since the mid 70's on windscreens that are 70 years old but in my car the 2 windscreens are flat 6 mill glass even done it on late 90's cars no problem even with stone chips
Just ti be safe and because most of the cars I've had have had chipped windshields (gravel roads and Patagonian winds) even tough those chips were fixed, I found pouring ethilic al alcohol the most efective way of de-icing my windshield, and you also avoid the risk of ice forming under the car as it melts.
interesting experiment ,i have been doing this for years with no problem..Yet i had a P10 primera , where have thy all gone?? which had a small chip. one night it got down to -7 and when the sun came into direct contact with the screen, it cracked top to bottom
How about getting a nice warm hot water bottle (with a cover) and wiping it over the screen? Just had this idea... not tried it yet. Will try it if we get a frost tomorrow.
As this is entertainment rather than peer-reviewed research, I'll try to be gentle. The most correct thing you said was that "there is a risk" of cracking the windscreen. A single test on one car is not going to be definitive either way. That risk will be increased if there is damage (visible or latent) to the windscreen, and gets larger with the temperature differential between the water and the windscreen. When I worked in wet labs I used to regularly see glassware that had no visible signs of cracking or other damage fail catastrophically on heating, because there were latent( i.e. invisible) stresses or microcracks in the glass that caused weak points from which cracks could start. Personally, I wouldn't use hot or boiling water to clear a windscreen unless there was no other method and I desperately needed to drive somewhere. Incidentally, earlier this week I got a cover for the windscreen and front windows of my Ford Tourneo WAV, and it's easily the best £30 I've spent on a car accessory. De-icing it on Monday morning with no cover took an hour, yesterday with the cover took less than 5 minutes (removing the cover, side/rear windows, lights and mirrors).
Boiling water will not crack modern screens, however much better to use tepid water as will not refreeeze as quick ( don’t know why). Also a tsp of salt in watering can full of tepid water works for me and been driving for 47 yrs. also wont get pooling on floor if pouring volume is slow. Bear in mind the front screen defrost will prob freeze tiny washer holes so concentrate on them too
Oh that salt!!! If you use it on door windows the drain holes are almost always blocked. The bottom of doors is a common rust trap. Not sure I would help it along. Also the windscreen scuttle panel and under the windscreen rubbers are rust traps as well. The salt could even get into the top inside of the hinge panel/wing. I would expect bubbling in the paint.
@@mbak7801 after 47 yrs never encountered rust probs and all my cars owned are bangers 12+ yrs old 1 tsp in 10l watering can😂😂weak as hell, needs to be dissolved too. Don’t need salt but does stop from re freezing as fast. My car is white this week a great deal more than I am talking about and did say an option. Only use it if vvvvvv cold. Just water is enough even if apply twice
I use tepid water. Thermal shock from very hot or boiling water is a real risk - the same applies on a very hot day with cold water. Even tepid water is enough to clear the screen of ice in sub zero conditions so there is no need to risk pouring very hot water over it.
In my VW EOS the windows drop on the frameless doors when you unlock it so I have always used warm water to break the frozen seals from the glass before unlocking.
My mate used to use boiling water on his fiesta. Although it never cracked, one day (during summer) a very small stone hit the windscreen screen (He was not going fast) and the whole thing shattered. Often wandered if the boiling water somehow weakened it....
I had a rear window shatter in very cold weather when I turned the rear window heater on. It's quicker to use a scraper rather than waiting for a kettle to boil.
I guess it's pretty unlikely for a windscreen to crack from doing this, but winter here in the very northern parts of Europe can still be dangerous to windscreens. Probably not so much because of the temperatures, but because they're using sand/gravel on the roads and the little stones stick really well to the tiny slits found in winter tyres. Naturally they'll fly off as you approach motorway speeds and usually find their way into the windscreens of people driving behind. And I guess there's the occasional metal stud from a studded tyre flying around, too. Yet another reason to keep a safe distance!
Same problem in this part of Canada. I've replaced many windshields in my years of driving. In fact, mine is cracked right now, but I'll wait until summer to have it replaced.
I used this for more than 40 years, my dad told me about it so I think this method had stand the test over time so to speak. You can also just use cold water, works fine too, it may take some more water. I recall in my youth that someone was standing on the hood of the car and pee on the windscreen, many ways to skin that cat.
I always pour the water on the roofline about 1 inch from.the glass so the hot water can run down the window. I always had the demister running a few minutes earlier to prevent it re icing
Glass is funny stuff. My shower screen exploded at 6am one morning. No one was near it, I was still in bed. I think the hot water on the windscreen method is a low risk, but I think it's still there. Why give the screen any excuse to pop? I just start the car while I'm having my breakfast, front and rear defrosters on: in 5 to 7 minutes the car is fine. Any slight frosting that remains on side windows can easily be removed with a £1 scraper.
Warm is probably safe side, cracking is generally because of some form of unseen light damage on the screen before hand or if there is a chip/small crack you can see just don't risk it, i have a citroen c4 grand picasso with a huge windscreen, so i do let the car warm up & defrost naturally to be on the safe side, because it's an 2008 & the cost to replace the windscreen would probably write the car off instantly lol
I used to work for AutoWindscreens and have replaced windscreens that have cracked from pouring hot water on them but the underlying reason was always the screen already had some kind of damage like a stonechip so we always advised people not to do it
Came to say the same thing, if the screen has a stone chip I'd give it a miss.
Though I've done this on chipped screens without issue. Never boiling water though. At most hot tap temp.
@@HubNut You've got to go back now and find a windscreen with a chip in and retry the test again. For science!
I'd like to, but I need to find such a car first (easier before the ice) then wait until gawd knows when for another cold spell. It's all thawed out now.
If this is just to piss off people in Scandinavia screaming at this being the wrong thing to do I will advise Scandinavians to microwave their Tea too
Walking on a slippery surface, with a kettle full of boiling water, it could be a plot from the old version of Casualty. 😂
A flask of lukewarm water is my method of choice - literally takes seconds, completely clears the screen, and as long as it’s followed up with some de icer, and fast wipers, it doesn’t freeze up again. It even helps with the inside steaming up. Just watch for the puddle of water on the ground freezing over instead!
Yep, this is my preferred method.. the warm water also demists the inside. Agree you need to use the wipers as soon as the ice is melted... Need to pour it over quite slowly and evenly and get all the ice where the wipers go.. also peel the wipers off the glass before using them in case they're frozen on.
I love my neighbours reaction when I put warm water on my windscreen.
I got permanent clouding in a spot on my windscreen once, I put it down to me using very hot water out of the kettle one cold morning. I think it may have de-laminated slightly. I'm vary wary of doing it now.
The warnings came from the old windscreens, the early tempered and plain ones. They DO shatter when you put boiling water on them! The modern laminated ones are rather better at withstanding the temperature shock but, as you say, warm water that isn't boiling is the safest way. Also be careful if you've had a replacement windscreen that was a pattern part, not genuine. Some have a very thin layer of top glass that chips easily and is most likely more prone to cracking with the temperature shock.
Modern alamited is what time? 70s?
@@evlo8059 around the early 90's, new advances in the glue used to bond the various sheets of glass and plastic made them much stronger and lighter.
Not true, some russian guy posted on youtube how he puts boiling water on his Lada and nothing happens.
Boiling is overkill. Warm tap is all you need.
I busted mine on my 88 Chevy. But it was the original so who knows. It could have just gotten brittle and this was the final straw
In nearly 40 years of driving, I have yet to crack a windscreen by using warm water to de-ice it. But totally agree with your warning that the danger comes when said water runs onto the ground and then freezes almost instantly. And when you consider that old Derek from Vice Grip Garage tends to favour the blow torch method of de-icing the windows, I doubt hot water will do any harm at all!
A Hairdryer works well with a long enough extension lead. On windows locks and door seals. Had to use to thaw outside tap lately pipe well insulated and alright just tap not turning as washer frozen shut despite having one of those insulated covers. Cold water (below 3 C) rises so tap always freeze's first.
@@tonys1636 Basic high school science says that cold water always sinks and hot water rises.
@@CaptHollister That the case then It would freeze at the bottom not on the top. Below 4 C the molecules become more open thus lighter so they rise. Why pipes burst as expands on freezing. Starts to freeze at 3 C. The only liquid that does this. Salt (sea) water at 10 C lower and solid ice at -10 C.
Warm water on cold glass isn't going to do anything. It's cold water to hot glass that's no good.
@@brettnelson7518no it’s the temperature difference and the glass usually already has a small chip in it or something. I saw a guy make a cup out of a glass vodka bottle that all he did was freeze, score, then pour boiling water over.
Been using warm water for years. Best bit is it helps demist the INSIDE of the screen too. Never once shattered a windscreen from it.
Been told countless times by work colleagues etc. that "Oh you can't do that you'll crack the screen!". I simply ask them "Do you know OF anyone that that has actually happened to??", and they never actually do!
When I used to drive taxis I actually did see another guy come out of the office with a literally just-boiled kettle and pour it on the thickly frosted windscreen of a Fiat Doblo taxi one biting cold morning. I actually did kinda expect something bad to happen that time, but it didn't!
Even if you would pour it why it is still boiling from 15cm or so, it would touch the glass about 60C tops i would guess, i would do a video, with thermal cam, but i'm sure I will forget to do it :)
@@evlo8059
Hmm that's a good point actually, water does lose quite a lot of temperature when it's "in the air". Those videos of Alaskans, Siberians, Norwegians, basically folks in REALLY REALLY cold places of the world, doing that trick where they throw a cup of boiling water in the air and it's turned to ice droplets before it's on the ground show this.
Exactly! I've seen a few claim it happened to them, but this was probably stress damage that was already there anyway and would have eventually happened as a result of road vibration eventually anyway
Agree 100%. I've used warm water, usually a couple of plastic milk cartons full for 30 years. The 'crack' story is in my opinion just an old wives tale. The important thing is as well as taking the ice away that the water will raise the temerature of the glass above freezing for a few minutes and give you time to get the heater running. Seems sensibe to me but all week I've woken up to the sound of people in the street scraping car windows!
Try boiling water
Same here. I don't use boiling water. Just warm from the tap. Quick, clean does the trick. Windscreen glass is tempered so makes sense it doesn't just crack. If it was severely cold (like in the interior of North America or Russia) and the water was boiling then possibly, but tap-warm water and the sort of temperatures you get in western Europe... yeah that's not going to be problem.
I fill hot water out the tap 15 to 20 minutes to get ready for work pour and drive no cracks just cracking visibility greetings from Scotland 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
my father used hot (and sometimes boiling) water on his work car for 25 years until he got remote heating in every car. Not only did none of the about 15 cars develop cracks - he also did it on windscreens that had huge cracks in the first place.. nothing ever happened.
@@chilternman used boiling water dozens of times on several different cars - nothing happens.
No Ian, it can ruin screens. Not crack them but what happened in one of my cars was using very hot water the windscreen laminate began to go milky between the glass. It took a few days to make this obvious and then it was too late. New windscreen. From now on my usual method is get in, run engine, and sit and wait. It took today [-3°c] 12 minutes from getting in to driving off and having warm air coming through the vents to defrost the windscreen. Side windows [passenger and driver] too. This period of time also enabled the engine to begin warming before setting off - along with hydraulic fluids etc. I don’t mind 12 minutes sat with warm seats [heated] rather than staying wrapped up walking in and out of the house with water, or scrapping the ice off [getting ice on jacket, which duly melts making jacket wet]. Patience. It’s all you need.
Yeah ok, but I've been using hot water for 20 years and never had an issue at all. But you do you.
@@craigix Ok, will do 👍
Great informative video, I’ve been using warm water during the frosty winter’s for 30 years plus and never had a problem, got to admit I do have a laugh at the people that spend a good 20 minutes scraping their screens and ending up with frostbite and getting in the car and wondering why all the interior windows are misting up which of course is the other added benefit of using warm water you don’t get your windows misting up so much if at all, keep up the great work on your brilliant channel Ian ! 🙂
When a Merc is on HubNut, it features as a victim for sadistic experiments. 😆
Top tip! Park your car pointing towards the sunrise, problem solved.
Alternatively plan ahead giving yourself plenty of time to scrape the screen and wear warm clothing and gloves!
Coming from the wilds of Kent, I was sometimes able to thaw out frozen door locks with body-temperature water from nature's reservoir. Then, sixty years ago, living in an isolated location, the risk of being observed and ending up as a byline in the Sunday papers was minuscule. Being a smallish chap, in my floriat, I was only 5' 9" in thick socks, this dodge worked on small cars like my 1960 Mini. Larger cars would have posed a problem, as the ballistics of delivery would have necessitated stepping back from the door, increasing the chances of attracting attention to my nefarious activity. As far as windscreens are concerned, I have used a washing-up bowl of luke-warm water, drawn from both the cold and hot taps, without incident since Macmillan was the prime minister! The water does not need to be near boiling point, just significantly warmer than the freezing.
Surely you must be taking a piss!
Merry Christmas to all the Hub Nuts.
Thermal shock is a thing! Luke warm at most. Maybe won't shatter them, but I'll bet screens delaminate sooner if they're abused with very hot water.
Warm to hot tap is fine.
You need to find a car that already has a small crack or chip on the windscreen, the temperature differential will stress it and cause it to grow considerably
My Fairmont has a fair-sized chip in the windscreen and I used warm (not hot) water, when it was -6 degrees C, with no issue.
Had a good chuckle watching this. I used to work in the engineering department of GM Buses in Manchesyer back in the days and the buses and coaches would all freeze up in the yard. Some of us would do the old welding rod trick before the drivers got in and put a thin rod on the inside of the screen before the drivers threw hot water on it to leave what appeared to be a mahusive crack in the screen 🤣🤣🤣
Lovely Jubbly Mr HubNut, I wouldn't do on a brand new car with their ultra thin glass, but on a older car you show it to be fine.
A very good point Ian about the water flowing onto the ground and freezing. On more than one occasion I've nearly slipped upside down when a car parked next to me has used water to clear the glass.
A chipped windsceen could potentially crack, but, if someone's driving about with a chipped windscreen anyway, it'll probably crack regardless if they don't get the chip filled or the glass replaced... :P
i had a fairly small crack in the windscreen on the offside, that got to be a loong crack with warm water. Its no problem on a healthy windscreen
I agree
A screen with a crack or chip already,might not enjoy the thermal difference when adding 90degree water to a frozen screen.
But I have never worried about using hot water on a screen
Being a shift worker I don't want to wake the neighbours up by scraping so have always used warm water but maybe very hot water on an old toughened screen might break.
Didn’t see any “boiling “ water poured on to windscreen as title suggests🤔
You need to do this again but also do rear window which will probably shatter instantly.
Good video anyway 👍
Well, there you go. Never done that. Like the rest of the internet, I thought it would break the window - especially on my classics. However, I am glad to see the practical application worked perfectly and will keep it in mind.
We still get ice on the windscreen in Auckland, NZ midwinter, but the garden hose is usually enough to soften it and loosen the wipers up to clear the rest. There was one morning that driving down the road with the wipers going, the windscreen started icing up again (the ambient temp was zero degrees Celsius, so the wind chill would have been colder), but a shot of Bars Bugs from the windscreen washers cleared that off.
I guess in other parts of the country (and indeed the world) where the weather overnight will freeze the water in the hose and put more than a few millimetres of ice plus frosting on the screen that warm water could be the saving grace. Again, many thanks!
I'm more of a 'fan' of letting the car warm up for 10 mins and letting its own heater do it - so you know for sure that you've got enough heat to stop it freezing back up again whilst on the move.
Depends on the rarity of the screen how much risk you are prepared to take. I'm cautious with the Safrane but worry less about the C2. Only use warm tap water though. Works well enough and less thermal difference to shock the glass.
it doesn't even need to be "warm". I've been defrosting my car this week with a mix of de-icer and barely tepid water. Needs to be hardly any heat in it at all, and the closer to cold it is the lower your risk of thermal shock cracking it.
Good to know! Fair play for putting in take 1 in as well :)
As others have commented, the problem was probably connected to the use of toughened windscreens which were far more prone to shattering. In the '70's I was driving a Ford lorry on an extremely cold day. I left Bournemouth with a cold engine which had warmed up by the time I reached Ringwood. I turned the heater on to keep the screen clear and within seconds the screen shattered and blew in all over me. Most uncomfortable especially as I was wearing wellington boots and the shards of glass went down inside them.
Depending on the temperature and age of the glass, I've seen it crack, but much more modern technology has made it less common.
Glad you mentioned the bit about it freezing on the ground, it makes this a bad idea. Best way is put warm water in a food bag and wipe it over the screen
Garage 54 has done an even more extreme test than this, pouring boiling water and then liquid nitrogen onto a windscreen frozen in a Siberian winter. One tiny crack at the bottom was all they achieved with their testing.
I'd be interested to know if anybody has ever had glass break doing this.
That's what I was thinking of as well. They tried their best to crack it and failed.
What I will say is, prior to the days of tempered glass being used in cars, I'd say cracking the glass was very much a possibility, which is where this came from in the first place I think.
Fantastic advice Ian
Thanks Ian. I've been pouring warm water onto windscreens since 1981, and never had a breakage, even though some of them had stone chips. But I've never used anything warmer than about 'elbow hot' or hot tap water; about 55°C. On several occasions, the air temperature was around -20°C, but still no problems.
As a matter of course I used to take a couple of 5 litre bottles of hot water, wrapped up in car blankets, on long journeys when working. These had two functions, as needed; warming the cabin and/or occupant at the end of a long day with the car standing, empty, and defrosting the windscreens before returning home.
I've almost never bought de-icer, and rarely use a scraper. In the mornings, I'd hear people scratting away at their windscreens, while I'd go outside with a pan or kettle of water, pour it onto the screens, start the wipers, put the kettle back into the house, and drive away while the neighbours were still spraying and scraping.
The dire warnings from those neighbours about broken windscreens were never fulfilled.
It comes from the old windscreen pre laminate. However, if your windscreen has a defect like a chip it could make it crack. I have seen this myself with a colleague.
Once in an emergency type situation I had to resort to some warm liquid I had available after a couple of cups of coffee… It works, but good idea to avoid the cabin ventilation inlet grill ;)
It probably depends on the state of the windscreen. It could theoretically crack the front windsreen. Side and rear are tempered glass so they would break from the small crack or scratch that would be the start of the crack anyway.
I use Warm water and pour it on the roof first so that cools it down even more. But i have seen a windscreen crack using boiling water on a mk2 cavalier so if in doubt don’t try it, good luck if you do 😬
It may be that this was once true when windscreens were rather more primitive, and the "knowledge" has been passed down unchanged. Other examples include never crossing your hands on the steering wheel, which was important in the very early days when hand throttles were the norm, and blipping the throttle when turning the ignition off, originally to get some petrol onto the spark plug to avoid condensation forming on it thus making the next day's work with the starting handle hopefully rather easier.
You still get in trouble in the test for crossing the wheel, for “affecting control of the vehicle” even when it plainly won’t!
last I heard 'do not blip the throttle' when turning the engine off as it washes the cylinder walls with petrol allowing them to rust as the oil film is now missing.
@@TechStuff365 at least that’s a better reason than the one I was told when learning a few years ago!
I've been using a hammer and chisel to clear ice for years....and I can confirm it does crack the windscreen.
Well done. I would love you to do a demonstration on good driving techniques in winter as I have seen watching you over the years your a very skilled driver
Yes, I need to find a way to safely film this. It's quite challenging from a technical and safety point of view.
I believe there is an old video of him driving the Honda s-mx in winter where he gave some good advice.
I haven't bought any de icer in 20 years Ian, I fill my thermos before leaving work on a night too if its icy. I've only ever used hand hot water must admit. It has the added advantage of de misting the inside of the glass too!
GOOD GRIEF, I've seen one crack from top to bottom using that method
and it refroze, I use a hot water bottle filled with hottish water moving it
slowly over the screen it takes longer but it works you just need to allow
a bit more time. I think your method would be safer on the smaller side windows
I would think the larger windscreen standing the sudden local temperature
change could be a risk I'm not willing to take. PS or just cover it I have used
an old shower curtain in the past worked a treat.
I was a work shop manager at a large Rover, Land Rover, Range Rover, Triumph, Vauxhall dealer ship in the 70's. All cars straight from factory were covered in wax protection which required steam cleaning (very hot) 🥵 to melt wax. Both Laminated & Toughened glass went through the same process, hundreds of times, never once did a glass break. The cars would be brought out of compound in depths of winter & be subject to hot blast of steam cleaning before being dispatched to my workshop for PDI. As I said not one cracked. Now whether or not today's glass is not up to the strength of the earlier glass I couldn't say. That's for you to decide, me, it's never gone wrong.
ive always used warm water from the tap to remove ice from the screen, with no problems :-) infact, the other day,it was minus-10c here in stockport, so i poured it on, used the wipers, then drove off, while the neighbours were sat in their cars for 20mins warming it up,lol.
This feels like some kind if comedy sketch. Please do more.
Like many comments on here I tend to use hot water, often heated just below boiling in the kettle and topped up with a splash of cold. Helps to demist the interior too.
I've found that if you have a chip that already has radial cracks coming out of it, you then risk the cracks expanding outwards if you pour boiling water on that area.
But you can destress the window first by pouring the boiling water on the opposite side of the windscreen.
I would imagine that to get a laminated screen to crack you would need to hurl a bucket of boiling water all over the screen at once and hope the glass near the bonding to the body doesn't expand as quickly as the rest of the glass.
Not something I’ve ever dared try or ever will.
My mum said in the 80’s she had a hot drink on the dashboard (car stationary) and the window cracked.
I think it depends on glass condition. I remember working at a garage many years ago, when someone used a kettle full of boiling water on the side window of a Austin Mini to defrost the window and door lock, the glass blew up like a bomb and it faded the paint where the water ran down. Warm / touch hot maybe ok when you think of a heated window on a car.
I remember my grandfather doing this to his old vauxhall chavette. Didn't crack the glass, but it left a lovely faded streak in the paint wherever the water touched it. It looked like he he'd tie dyed his car.
I use the kettle, but fill it from the warm tap which is cold when it starts running then gets hot so the water in the kettle is luke warm at best. I've done this for many years. Recently it was a 3 kettle day. All the best, Mart.
Here in Sweden we use ice scrapers. With todays energy prices, it´s much cheaper than boiling water and you can use it over and over again. 🙂
Ian, it's an urban legend based on facts, back from the days before tempered glass. I can remember back in the olden days 1955 +/- milk bottles cracking if run under the hot water tap!
I'd be interested to know the details sickophant. How hot was the water? Which car? What was the ambeint temp?
Windscreens are laminated not tempered.
@@HubNut What on earth does 'sickophant' mean? If you meant 'sycophant' it still doesn't make sense, and you spelt 'ambient' wrong! (Sorry, I'm just a grammar Nazi😂😂) Interesting subject by the way, I've always wondered about the hot water on cold glass scenario since my mom put a glass casserole dish, that had been in the oven, onto a cold surface - and it shattered!! Wondered if it would happen the other way round!.
@@2760ade sickophant is the channel name of gloomygoblin - RUclips does not show the channel name any more (on most systems). It shows your "handle". That's RUclips for you !!
@@GrandadIsAnOldMan Aah, I see! Thanks for that. I did wonder!!😃
Well, I am surprised and admit I’d listened to the older advice. I rarely use anything apart from the car blowers anyway, but Thankyou for sharing pal. Wishing yourself and Carly, along with the Hublets a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 👍👍👍👍🤜🤛🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🇬🇧🏴
My father often relates a story from when he worked at a coach builders, it was a cold day and he walked into the workshop from outside; a fitter had just polished a coach windscreen ready to fit it, my father touched the glass whilst remarking how clean it was and his cold finger caused the screen to shatter!
I've been using room temperature water on my windscreen the last couple of weeks. I need a little more water for the job, but it works fine.
Nothing wrong with take one I think. Still, fun and useful consumer advice via a nice field experiment. Thank you, inching towards 100K on RUclips. That is going to be ace 😃
It would depend on the depth of any cracks or flaws in the glass. Whether the glass is stable when energy is applied depends upon the Griffith's Failure Criterion. The risk is that with deep cracks when heat or any other stress is applied to a local area, an existing deep crack (crack length in Griffiths equations) will grow - Griffith's criterion can be used to estimate the critical failure stress for a given crack length (depth). The risk arising from the use of water that is too hot is similar to continuing to drive a car across a severely bumpy surface while a stone chip is present in the windscreen. If the chip/crack is deep enough to be unstable, it will grow, if sufficient stress energy is applied. If the glass has no obvious flaws, moderately warm water shouldn’t be a great risk. With fond memories of Materials Technology taught by Professor James Gordon in the 1980’s at Reading University. He loved dramatic experiments and I recall theatrical demonstrations causing different materials to shatter under varying conditions, on occasions with the aid of liquid nitrogen.
I suspect that boiling water on a zone-toughened screen might cause a failure, but modern laminated windows seem to have no issues at all.
Speaking of eccentric windscreen mechanisms, my dad used to have a nice 1990's C-class merc that had a particularly crazy windscreen wiper. The size of the windscreen was no different in size to the one in this video, yet it only had one wiper. Rather than the usual 90-odd degrees arcing movement that wipers normally make, this single particularly large wiper made what I can only describe as an "M" shaped movement of 180 degrees across the entire windscreen. Presumably, there was some clever cam as a part of the wiper motor but it was always interesting to watch! I can't say I've seen anything like it before or since, but I'm sure they exist elsewhere.
Great and informative video Ian, always wondered that myself, not that I would have tried on my own cars! Through I think I possibly did do it on my first car twenty years ago lol 🤣🤣
I use a watering can of warm water from the hot water tap underneath my combiboiler, so by the time I get to my car maybe 45-50°C. I start up the car, put on the rear-window and mirror defrost and all the lights, clear the windshield with warm water, put the wipers on, and then use the rest of the can to clear the sidewindows.
I wouldn't risk using boiling water, even if it doesn't harm the windows, it can't be good for the paint and window rubbers.
Whenever I've done that it was just hot water from the tap. Not heated on the stove. worked just fine. I don't do it anymore because my car is parked too far away for me to want to haul water to it but back in the mid 2000's I used to just carry a jug of regular warm/hot water from the tap out to it.
I was just going to comment your last point re water on the ground and you got there. I should have been more trusting. Good video.
I too use hand hot water, but in a zip-lock bag which I drape across the glass, effectively wiping away the ice. 1litre of warm water, thus contained is enough for the windscreen & side windows. When done, I then empty the now luke warm water onto the screen & wipers, so that they too are de-frosted. All of the above warms the glass sufficiently that it doesn't fog up when you get in & start breathing on it. Been using this method for decades without issue.
One point to note, if it's really cold, say < -5C, it's best to use the wipers asap to clear water from the screen before it can re-freeze.
The good old days of triplex toughened glass used to be the days of kerpow with boiling water. Mainly if you had a stone chip that you hadn't noticed.
I like the warm to hot (but not boiling) water in a big ziplock bag method myself. You just wipe it over the windscreen and then do a swish of the wipers.
Magic.
I did often wonder about this. I have often used warm water with no problems. I wouldn’t use boiling water mind. Great video Ian
HubNut does Mythbusters! I love it.
I remember my dad used to do this when I was a kid. I'd sit inside whist he poured boiling water on the toughened (pre-laminate) windscreen. Nothing bad ever happened that I remember, although I do clearly remember the day a stone from a passing car broke the same entire windscreen and my parents had to punch a hole in the glass to see where to drive.
never tried with boiling water before, but our hot water heater makes it come out of the tap literally steaming hot so its probably around the same tempature, assuming whatever pot of water you’re using is boiled inside, and carried to the vehicle a small distance, the cold air would cool it rather significantly id think, but of course thats what this video is for!
Domestic hot water only tends to be around 50 degrees or so, but will still steam. The first take here used water that had cooled a little. The second take (the first one you see) was much closer to boiling.
another great video has always Ian and miss hubnut and hublets and hubmutts 👍
Isn't warm water the only thing that really works.
De icer? Not really
Scraper? Sort of
Warm water? Great job.
I found a mix of concentrated washer fluid and de-icer works decently well.
@@kristoffer3000 makes sense. Ok
I have seen it happen, but it was on an old windscreen years ago, which probably wasn't even the original part and was with truly boiling water. I don't think it's quite such a problem with modern stuff, especially if you leave the water to cool off just a little bit (so it's decently hot, but not boiling). This was also in Canada, in winter not too far from Suffield, iirc. Very cold!
By the way congratulations both I also do the same with hot water now I'm sure the mith started somewhere so what happens if you did it too an older car like pre 1980s when glass was more fragile?
Along with everyone else it's something I've done on innumerable occasions without a hint of disaster, also worked on the lazy starter on an Alfa that I had which was often reluctant to turn over at low temperatures......
I've always used hot water but poured it on the roof edge first to take the sting out of it and poured slowly until all the ice has gone then pour directly on the glass to warm it up and then get the wipers going to dry the window until i can get a cloth on it for final drying
Tepid water works just fine - been doing it for decades with no issue. I wouldn't use hot as you do stand the chance of breaking the glass by thermal shock, albeit if the risk is quite a small one.
I tried the same on a car I was scrapping, and had the same result. I now always use warm water as it also demists the inside.
i've done the same for years since the mid 70's on windscreens that are 70 years old but in my car the 2 windscreens are flat 6 mill glass
even done it on late 90's cars no problem even with stone chips
Just ti be safe and because most of the cars I've had have had chipped windshields (gravel roads and Patagonian winds) even tough those chips were fixed, I found pouring ethilic al alcohol the most efective way of de-icing my windshield, and you also avoid the risk of ice forming under the car as it melts.
interesting experiment ,i have been doing this for years with no problem..Yet i had a P10 primera , where have thy all gone?? which had a small chip. one night it got down to -7 and when the sun came into direct contact with the screen, it cracked top to bottom
How about getting a nice warm hot water bottle (with a cover) and wiping it over the screen? Just had this idea... not tried it yet. Will try it if we get a frost tomorrow.
As this is entertainment rather than peer-reviewed research, I'll try to be gentle.
The most correct thing you said was that "there is a risk" of cracking the windscreen. A single test on one car is not going to be definitive either way. That risk will be increased if there is damage (visible or latent) to the windscreen, and gets larger with the temperature differential between the water and the windscreen.
When I worked in wet labs I used to regularly see glassware that had no visible signs of cracking or other damage fail catastrophically on heating, because there were latent( i.e. invisible) stresses or microcracks in the glass that caused weak points from which cracks could start.
Personally, I wouldn't use hot or boiling water to clear a windscreen unless there was no other method and I desperately needed to drive somewhere.
Incidentally, earlier this week I got a cover for the windscreen and front windows of my Ford Tourneo WAV, and it's easily the best £30 I've spent on a car accessory. De-icing it on Monday morning with no cover took an hour, yesterday with the cover took less than 5 minutes (removing the cover, side/rear windows, lights and mirrors).
With the price of energy that kettle of boiling water was probably worth more than the Mercedes 🤣
Boiling water will not crack modern screens, however much better to use tepid water as will not refreeeze as quick ( don’t know why). Also a tsp of salt in watering can full of tepid water works for me and been driving for 47 yrs. also wont get pooling on floor if pouring volume is slow. Bear in mind the front screen defrost will prob freeze tiny washer holes so concentrate on them too
Oh that salt!!! If you use it on door windows the drain holes are almost always blocked. The bottom of doors is a common rust trap. Not sure I would help it along. Also the windscreen scuttle panel and under the windscreen rubbers are rust traps as well. The salt could even get into the top inside of the hinge panel/wing. I would expect bubbling in the paint.
@@mbak7801 after 47 yrs never encountered rust probs and all my cars owned are bangers 12+ yrs old 1 tsp in 10l watering can😂😂weak as hell, needs to be dissolved too. Don’t need salt but does stop from re freezing as fast. My car is white this week a great deal more than I am talking about and did say an option. Only use it if vvvvvv cold. Just water is enough even if apply twice
I use tepid water. Thermal shock from very hot or boiling water is a real risk - the same applies on a very hot day with cold water. Even tepid water is enough to clear the screen of ice in sub zero conditions so there is no need to risk pouring very hot water over it.
In my VW EOS the windows drop on the frameless doors when you unlock it so I have always used warm water to break the frozen seals from the glass before unlocking.
My mate used to use boiling water on his fiesta. Although it never cracked, one day (during summer) a very small stone hit the windscreen screen (He was not going fast) and the whole thing shattered. Often wandered if the boiling water somehow weakened it....
I had a rear window shatter in very cold weather when I turned the rear window heater on.
It's quicker to use a scraper rather than waiting for a kettle to boil.
I guess it's pretty unlikely for a windscreen to crack from doing this, but winter here in the very northern parts of Europe can still be dangerous to windscreens. Probably not so much because of the temperatures, but because they're using sand/gravel on the roads and the little stones stick really well to the tiny slits found in winter tyres. Naturally they'll fly off as you approach motorway speeds and usually find their way into the windscreens of people driving behind. And I guess there's the occasional metal stud from a studded tyre flying around, too. Yet another reason to keep a safe distance!
Same problem in this part of Canada. I've replaced many windshields in my years of driving. In fact, mine is cracked right now, but I'll wait until summer to have it replaced.
I used this for more than 40 years, my dad told me about it so I think this method had stand the test over time so to speak. You can also just use cold water, works fine too, it may take some more water. I recall in my youth that someone was standing on the hood of the car and pee on the windscreen, many ways to skin that cat.
Peeing on the door locks is a useful method. Put the key in first to transfer the heat.
Are you taking the piss
I always pour the water on the roofline about 1 inch from.the glass so the hot water can run down the window.
I always had the demister running a few minutes earlier to prevent it re icing
What, a Hubnut video in which nothing really happens? Surely some mistake! 😂😉 Happy Christmas and merry New Year Ian.
Glass is funny stuff. My shower screen exploded at 6am one morning. No one was near it, I was still in bed. I think the hot water on the windscreen method is a low risk, but I think it's still there. Why give the screen any excuse to pop? I just start the car while I'm having my breakfast, front and rear defrosters on: in 5 to 7 minutes the car is fine. Any slight frosting that remains on side windows can easily be removed with a £1 scraper.
Warm is probably safe side, cracking is generally because of some form of unseen light damage on the screen before hand or if there is a chip/small crack you can see just don't risk it, i have a citroen c4 grand picasso with a huge windscreen, so i do let the car warm up & defrost naturally to be on the safe side, because it's an 2008 & the cost to replace the windscreen would probably write the car off instantly lol
Before I got my 2020 V60 with Webasto and heated viper blades I used urin. Never gave any problems
Add to my previous comment, as I pour the hot water on I squeegee it off to prevent a refreeze.
Brilliant video Ian 👍I don't know if you watch garage 54 they did it on a lada and it didn't break Brilliant
I once jetwashed a MG Montego using the hot setting, and definitely cracked the windscreen.