Never Scrape Frost Again - Use a 110v Heater

Here's a tip for those of us that live in a part of the country where the temperature is not bikini favourable all year around. If you live where winter is a common fact of life each year, this is for you.

I have never had to scrape frost off my vehicle windows for years, or at least it brushes off easily in seconds when weather conditions are severe. If you have snow on your vehicle, no matter how cold, this will allow it to slide off easily.

What you need to do is purchase an automotive type 110v electric heater and mount it in your car or truck. (Or 220v if your country uses that source of power.)

 

The heater is actually quite small, a little larger than palm size. It is shown large here to show details.

This one is 900 watts and the fan intake is shown. Heat blows out of the top end as shown in the picture.

Note: Do not buy the 12v model that looks almost identical. They do not put out much heat, and will kill your vehicle battery in a very short time if the engine is not running.

 

 

The heater can be mounted in your vehicle in a number of ways. It comes with a bracket that allows it to be unclipped and taken out for summer months. This bracket mounts with a couple of screws if you have the space under your dash.

Shown here, in my vehicle which is a large SUV, it is held in place by a simple bungee cord at the back of the console.

The case of the heater does not get hot, not even lukewarm. Of course the air intake has to be clear, as well as the heat outlet on the top.

The top would have to be kept clear of combustible material.

 

 

You will also need to purchase some sort of remote controlled outside plug.

 

This plugs into your normal outside receptacle, but is controlled by a keychain remote from inside the house.

 

An alternate method would be to use an electronic timer, set at the time you usually want the heater to activate.

 

 

The device I use is controlled by a keychain remote shown here.

 

Depending on the outside temperature, turn your heater on about 30 to 45 minutes before you are ready to leave. By that time your windows will be clear.

Any snow on the vehicle will slide off easily with a snow brush. If weather conditions have been severe with freezing rain, etc. it will all slide off with little effort.

 

 

There are many kinds of remote controlled plugs available at your local automotive or hardware store.

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These types of heaters warm the interior of the vehicle just enough that the frost melts off the windows and the metal gets warm enough any snow slides off easily using a simple snow brush.

Bonus: There is enough heat to take the chill off inside your car or truck so that when you are good to go it is comfortable until your normal heater is producing heat.

Bonus #2: If you have one of the cars with a real large windshield that often fogs up on the inside just after you start it because of the damp air inside the heater ducts, it will never happen again.

This entire setup can be done for a lot less than a hundred dollars. It can be removed in the summer and put back in for winter months for years.

Because you only turn it on for a short time before leaving it is both ecnomical and enviromentally friendly.

I haven't scraped windows for years - and neither have my friends who I told about this procedure.