For Mainers without garages, warming up the car to defrost the windshield is a way of life in the winter. Start up the car, go back inside, pour your coffee in the travel mug, pack your lunch and then look outside to see if the windshield has defrosted.
It’s time consuming and it wastes gas. There’s a better way. Or, a few of them.
Here’s a video from news station WYFF with a recipe for homemade ice melter using water, dish soap and rubbing alcohol. WYFF is based in the Carolinas, where apparently they have enough ice to need this.
This video, from the Australian company Icon Water, shows how to de-ice your windshield using salt water.
This last video, from Howcast, has a few cool recommendations, like leaving a tarp over the windshield you can just pull off in the morning. There’s also an ice-prevention spray you apply the night before to keep ice from accumulating overnight.
So what’s wrong with just using your car’s defroster and waiting 10 minutes? If the financial and environmental consequences of burning all that gas don’t dissuade you, you should know that contrary to what your grandfather told you, in a modern car letting it idle in the winter isn’t great for the engine. As the Globe and Mail explains, the car gets up to temperature faster when it’s moving. “Running an engine when it’s cold causes increased emissions and engine wear. The goal is to get the engine into its preferred temperature range quickly.”
Even this post from automotive blog Jalopnik encouraging people to idle their cars a little says you need two minutes tops on the very coldest days.