Winter 2014's acoming so batten down the hatches......

[skomedal]

Use one of these myself ( not the halfords model but similar ) when I park the car outdoors overnight ( coldest tested was -14C )

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-styling/car-covers-tarpaulins/halfords-frost-guard

Regards

 

[PaulR]

I've occasionally done that, but in taking care not to have it so warm that it risks thermally shocking the screen, it also generally freezes back into a thin film of ice within minutes.

Then I would say that you're probably not putting enough warm water on and/or it's not hot enough. Yes, there's thermal shock with warm water but think about the differences in temperature on a cold screen with hot air being directed on it from the air vents.

 

[2cvbloke]

Before leaving your car for the night, turn the blowers up to full, aimed at the windscreen, and lift the wipers of course, and when you start it in the morning, you let the blowers run, engine slowly heats up, and then the windscreen heats up gently thus preventing thermal shock, and hey presto, defrosted windscreen with no water or de-icer required...

 

[Topper]

Before leaving your car for the night, turn the blowers up to full, aimed at the windscreen, and lift the wipers of course, and when you start it in the morning, you let the blowers run, engine slowly heats up, and then the windscreen heats up gently thus preventing thermal shock, and hey presto, defrosted windscreen with no water or de-icer required...

OK unless you are rushing off to earn a crust at work! Who has 5 - 10 minutes to spare waiting for the engine to warm up to defrost the screen? Leaving it running whilst sitting in it freezing is futile, doing something else is also only an option if you have a second key so that you can lock it with the engine running whilst having a lazy breakfast

 

[2cvbloke]

Who has 5 - 10 minutes to spare waiting for the engine to warm up to defrost the screen?

People who plan their time better and start the car up 5 to 10 minutes sooner...

 

[Topper]

People who plan their time better and start the car up 5 to 10 minutes sooner...

Yes and some people don't have to plan their time..................

 

[2cvbloke]

Yes and some people don't have to plan their time..................

But if they have to rush to get the car going and have to spray stuff on the windscreen to defrost it in a panic, then, perhaps some planning is needed... ;)

That or buy a remote-start kit, whichever's cheaper...

 

[Lazarus]

Anyway, back to the current weather, an oddity yesterday was that here on the east side of the Pennines we had a glorious (If chilly) day, yet an hour and a half's drive away to the west (In a suitably defrosted car, using whichever method floats your boat), the roads were closed due to snow precisely where we are going on a week's walking holiday in a few days time.

What fun.

 

[2cvbloke]

Presently snowing here, big flakes too, though cos it was raining beforehand most of it is melting on impact, so, it's just sloppy and wet out there...

 

[Lazarus]

So, no De-Icer required, then

 

[2cvbloke]

No, no de-icer, though next door's zafira's sounding like it needs a new battery again...

 

[2cvbloke]

Windy, grotty, nasty, horrible, but enough about my bottom, the weather's grim today, dull, dark and blowing hard, want to get on with hacking back unwanted plant matter at the back of the garden, but the weather's not instilling any confidence in doing so....

 

[Archived-1]

Its the same here 2cv, I am just about to go out and modify a bracket for my cctv if I don't get blown off the ladder

 

[sonnetpete]

Warm, calm, almost clear blue sky here......

 

[2cvbloke]

I'm just hoping it'll be clear blue skies to watch the solar eclipse on the 20th, bought a couple of no. 14 welding mask windows to stare at the sun with, won't be much good is the clouds are in the way...

 

[Channel Hopper]

I'm just hoping it'll be clear blue skies to watch the solar eclipse on the 20th, bought a couple of no. 14 welding mask windows to stare at the sun with, won't be much good is the clouds are in the way...

That will make it darker, so better surely.

If it is really cloudy you could always pretend by putting this on.

 

[Archived-1]

a bit bleak here this morning, it was worse than this when I first got up, this was after returning home from taking the wife to work.

 

[sonnetpete]

It had dipped down to nearly freezing last night here and has reached the dizzy heights of +4C with rain and sleet this morning. Looks like another log burner day....now where did I hide that emergency stash of peasants??

 

[Lazarus]

The fun continues here