Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 4: Using a De-icing Fluid
• Method 2 of 4: Using a plastic card
• Method 3 of 4: Using a bag of rice or a saline heating pad
• Method 4 of 4: Preventing Ice Formation
• Tips
• Warnings
• What do you need

When you are late for work in the morning, the last thing you would like to see when leaving your home is your car's glass completely covered in ice. Driving with a frozen windshield is very dangerous, and cleaning it with an ordinary ice scraper will take too much precious time, and the glass can be scratched inadvertently. Fortunately, there are other options as well. If you want to learn how to defrost car windows quickly and painlessly, read on.

Steps

Method 1 of 4: Using a De-icing Fluid

1. 1 Buy an anti-freeze or make your own. A pre-made de-icing fluid can be found at most auto dealerships, especially in areas where winters are usually harsh. On the other hand, if it is over everywhere, or you want to try to save money, then making an anti-freeze on your own does not pose any problems, the recipe is very simple.
   • To make your own deicing fluid, pour rubbing alcohol into a bottle, add a few drops of dish soap, screw the cap back on, and shake by inverting the bottle several times.
2. 2 Spray liquid onto the glass. The method of application is the same, it doesn't matter if you bought it in a store or made it yourself. Spray the anti-freeze directly onto the icy areas of the glass and let it absorb.One or two minutes is enough - the more liquid you spray, the shorter the waiting time.
3. 3 Scrape off the ice. This can be done with a gloved hand, a plastic scraper, or any other suitable object. You will find that the ice now melts much easier and faster, and the cleaning time is much shorter. If in the process you come across especially strong areas, then spray them with anti-freeze again.
   • In a commercially available deicer, the alcohol concentration is usually such that the liquid solidifies at very low temperatures. Therefore, if a frost of -29 ° C or lower is not expected, then feel free to keep a container with an anti-freeze in the car.

Method 2 of 4: Using a plastic card

1. 1 Turn on the heated glass. This method is only applicable in extreme cases, when you have no warm water, no de-icer, or even a scraper at hand. For example, while you were working, it started to rain freezing, and the windows of the car in the parking lot were frozen over. Since you have to remove ice with a plastic card or other object that is equally unsuitable for this purpose, it makes a clear sense to simplify your task. To get started, start the engine and set the defroster to maximum. Do not turn it off during the entire process, and after a while the ice will soften and begin to melt, making your work much easier.
2. 2 Find a suitable plastic card. Dig in your wallet and find a card you can use to clean the glass. Laminated ones are not suitable, they are not rigid and durable enough for this business. Try to choose a card that you don't really need, such as an expired bank card or a discount card of a store you no longer go to, because further actions can easily ruin it.
3. 3 Start scratching. Press the long edge of the card at right angles to the glass and press down firmly. During cleaning, be careful not to bend the card, otherwise it may deform or even break.
   • Be persistent! As cleaning progresses, working with the card will require more and more effort from you (this is one of its main disadvantages compared to a conventional scraper). To achieve a result, you will have to press very hard.
   • If you are worried about the safety of the card, then you can double or even triple the strength of an impromptu scraper by composing it from two or three plastic cards and squeezing them together.
4. 4 Help yourself with wipers and washers. Chunks of ice are likely to build up around the edges. Therefore, periodically water the glass from the washer and turn on the wipers for a few seconds. The liquid will soften the remaining ice and the windshield wipers will break and sweep away any accumulations around the edges of the glass. If you simultaneously use a plastic card, wipers, washer and heating, then the ice shell will disappear from the windshield in just a few minutes.

Method 3 of 4: Using a bag of rice or a saline heating pad

1. 1 Place rice in a mitten or sealable bag and microwave for 30-60 seconds. You may need more than one package, but several.
2. 2 Sit in the car and scrub the inside of the window with a bag of hot rice. This will heat the glass and the ice will melt.
   • The sodium acetate heating pad can be used in the same way. It can be stored in the car at the ready. The heat release process is activated very quickly; the heating pad can then be "recharged" in boiling water.
   • The advantage of this method over scraping the ice is that the glass heats up and does not freeze again during the ride. In addition, you will not freeze during cleaning, as you will be inside the car.
3. 3 Proceed with caution and speed. Just as a glass can crack from boiling water, a hot water bottle, if applied for a long time, can be too much of a load for the glass. Therefore, keep the heating pad or bag in one place only until the ice begins to melt, and then move it to another area of ​​the glass.To remove moisture, you can use wipers and lower the side windows.

Method 4 of 4: Preventing Ice Formation

1. 1 Cover the glass at night. There is only one sure-fire way to avoid fussing with frozen glass in the morning - to make sure that ice does not form at all. It's very simple: before leaving the car overnight, cover all the windows with towels, sheets of paper or pieces of cardboard. The key point is to do it. before thathow frost or ice begins to form. Try to firmly press the covering material against the glass over its entire area so that there are no free areas left for frost (and, accordingly, ice) to grow.
   • A very convenient trick for the windshield: the protection can be perfectly fixed with the wipers. It may have to be pressed against the rest of the glass with small stones or something similar.
2. 2 Remove the protection from the windows in the morning. Remove towels, paper, or whatever you put there the day before from the glasses. All of this will, of course, be wet and / or icy. Therefore, if you plan to use protection againbefore throwing it in the trunk, put some kind of waterproof bedding, such as a piece of tarp, in it.
3. 3 Scrape off pieces of ice. Although this method prevents the formation of a continuous ice layer on the glass, the appearance of small frozen areas is still possible. If they obstruct your view, remove the ice with your hand or a plastic scraper. Well, if you are in a hurry, then get in the car, turn on the heated glass and use the washer and wipers.

Tips

• If frost is expected, raise the wipers before leaving to prevent them from freezing to the glass.
• As a rule, the washer nozzles are set in such a way that the jets do not enter the parked wipers. Before leaving the car overnight, make the wipers stop literally 3-4 cm before reaching the parking position.This can be achieved by quickly turning the wipers on and off or turning off the ignition when they have passed only part of their stroke. When you pour the glass from the washer the next morning, the first thing the liquid gets on is the wiper blades.
• When it's near freezing or just below freezing, windshield washers and windshield wipers are very effective in removing ice on your windshield. However, in severe frost, the plume of water that stretches behind the wipers can freeze very quickly, especially while driving.
• Make sure the wipers are off before stopping the engine overnight. If you do not, then, starting the car in the morning with the brushes frozen to the glass, you can burn the wiper fuse.
• If the ice is thin, then set the glass heater to full power and turn on the wipers - they may well cope with the task.
• Warm tap water works quickly, especially if the ice is not very thick. Pour the glass, starting from the top, and - hand scraper!

Warnings

• Never pour hot water onto an icy windshield. Due to the strong temperature difference, it can crack.
• If you intend to scrape off the ice with a plastic card, keep in mind that it may become unusable or even break. Choose a card that you do not mind, or put an invalid card in the glove compartment specifically for this purpose.
• You do not need to scrape the icy windshield with a shovel with a metal edge or any other tool that is not intended for this.
• Before turning on frozen wipers, free them from ice.

What do you need

• A plastic card
• De-icer and sprayer
• Wipers