# Using a 500W Halogen worklight to keep ice off my car



## jasonck08 (Nov 19, 2009)

So at my apartment, my car is about 20 feet outside my front door.

It's been getting pretty cold in the morning, but nothing insane. ~28-30F.

I've had ice on my car every morning this week. Today it was kind of thick. I had to go back inside and get a pan of cold water and then scrape the ice off.

Today I came up with a possible solution.

I bought a 500W Halogon worklight at home depot for $5.

I'm going to run an extension cord to my car with the light in it.

The light will be on a timer and will be set to turn on 20-30 minutes before I head out to work.

So the question is, do you think it will work, and do you think it will melt the ice in this amount of time, and keep my car warm?


----------



## DimeRazorback (Nov 19, 2009)

Will someone steal the light?


----------



## jasonck08 (Nov 19, 2009)

No, it will be locked in my car on the passengers seat.


----------



## gsxrac (Nov 19, 2009)

Hmm Heating glass that quickly could cause it to crack but im no expert since its not very much of a problem around here...


----------



## BlueBeam22 (Nov 19, 2009)

I have one of those 500W halogen worklights too. It does indeed produce a lot of heat, however is a radiant heat and will heat objects that it is directed at. I would recommend against leaving the light inside your car as the metal bodies and glass lenses on these worklights become extremely hot.


----------



## DimeRazorback (Nov 19, 2009)

jasonck08 said:


> No, it will be locked in my car on the passengers seat.



I misinterpreted what you wrote


----------



## Jash (Nov 19, 2009)

Get an old beach towel or bed sheet and put that over your car windshield each night. Make sure the towel and your shield are dry. Hold it in place by closing the doors on it. If it's windy use some tape. In the morning you just walk out, lift off the towel and bingo, ice free windshield. Won't cost anything to run either.


----------



## greg_in_canada (Nov 19, 2009)

It may work to melt the ice but I would worry more about it shifting and falling over. That could start your seats on fire.

They may be hard to find in California but a car warmer (120V forced air heater) may be best. I used to have one that had a high and low setting. It was great because on low I could also have my block heater plugged in so not only would my car be frost free in the morning, but it would start (at -30 or -40 degrees).

I looked on Amazon but they only seem to carry 12V ones. Not quite what you need.

Greg


----------



## jasonck08 (Nov 19, 2009)

The whole point of the expiriment would be to do things cheaply.

The light has a stand that keeps it off the ground 4-5" and it also has a cage around the glass lens, so I don't the heat is going to damge the seat.

I'll definitly test things before I let the light run for 30 minutes straight. I'll check temps after 5 minutes then 10, then 20 then 30 to make sure its not going to set my seats on fire or anything like that.

Also sure I could put a sheat or whatever over my car and then pull it off, but thats only 1/2 of the problem. The other 1/2 of the problem is how stinking cold it is in my car. I'd much rather hop into a warm car then an ice cold one at 7am.


----------



## HarryN (Nov 19, 2009)

I suggest that you find another method - the reason is that I know people who have burned down their garage with a 100 watt trouble light - it got too close to some stuff.

When I lived in IA, I installed a small 110V heater in the heater line which helped keep the coolant warm. It will help keep your engine and coolant warm - rapidly melting the windshield ice.

Another path - more passive - is to just cover the windshield. I sometimes use one of those aluminized windshield solar reflectors on the outside to keep it clear.


----------



## ANDREAS FERRARI (Nov 19, 2009)

Not to go off topic but I live in central Canada and when I wake up in the afternoon(semi-retired) it is 60 degrees or warmer!God bless global warming.

Yeah I know-Rush Limbaugh says global warming is an invention of the left wing-but it's 60 freaking degrees everyday when it was 20 degrees this time of year when I was a child.

I haven't had trouble with windshield frosting yet but I have remote start and my car is nice and warm when I go outside.


----------



## lightplay22 (Nov 19, 2009)

When I was a kid in school, they told me another ice age was coming in the future so all we really have to do is wait on it to get here lol.

A small forced air electric heater in the front seat will probably work better than the 500w light and be much safer too.

If the light did not melt something or cause a fire, a car with iced up windows will certainly look like a fire inside the car.

I have an electric baseboard heater that I leave in my work van when it get really cold and it sure is nice in the mornings.

Having a heater hooked in the cooling system would be something I would check into if I lived where it really gets cold.


----------



## orbital (Nov 19, 2009)

+

jasonck08,...clearly you must be kidding


----------



## crawler (Nov 19, 2009)

500W is all you need to start a car fire!

all you need to do is cover up the car if you can.....that should keep the ice off. 

if not, try warming up your car with the windshield defroster on the warmest setting with the fan on the middle setting.........air moving too fast can't warm up as much as air not moving so fast......make sure you set it so that the air inside the car is circulating........no outside air! 5-10 minutes later your car will be warm and cozy.....windsheild free of ice.

if that doesn't work.....try your windshield washers......unless you use pure water, that stuff doesn't freeze at all.

good luck!


----------



## steve6690 (Nov 19, 2009)

I really hope this is a joke...:tinfoil:


----------



## Illum (Nov 19, 2009)

500W work light + fan in the car would heat it up pretty nicely, but theres a layer of insulation between the interior and the outer shell...I doubt you would be able to help much from heating the car from the inside.

now if your car's a black color, face the light down on an area that you've scraped the ice off should be able to heat the entire panel to melt ice, but I can't see how the efficiency would make it practical, and unless you can heat the side panels simultaneously ice will travel and refreeze on the side panels


----------



## jasonck08 (Nov 19, 2009)

Not a joke. I was thinking about using a 500-700W heater, but for those they recommend not butting it within 3feet of furniture, so that would be more dangerous in a car, then a spotlight on a stand pointed up towards the roof of the car. Still need to get a long enough extension cord to run to my car.
 
And duh, I could let my car idle for 10 minutes with the heater on, but that would use up a lot of gas doing that every single day. I drive to get the best MPG possible, and hate wasting fuel.


----------



## MarNav1 (Nov 19, 2009)

My parents are elderly and use a remote start, works very well. I think using a worklight is very dangerous, the ones I have get very hot very quickly. Not worth a fire or melting your seats etc. My car has a carb, so I just have to be cold and scrape, not the end of the world really...............


----------



## Vikas Sontakke (Nov 19, 2009)

Walmart sells defroster in a can; buy that. Prestone brand is good and melts the windshield frost on contact. I picked up bunch of them on clearance at the end of the last winter season.

Putting the 500W on the driver seat is insanely stupid idea. I sure hope you were joking.

- Vikas


----------



## SneakyCyber (Nov 19, 2009)

MarNav1 said:


> My parents are elderly and use a remote start, works very well. I think using a worklight is very dangerous, the ones I have get very hot very quickly. Not worth a fire or melting your seats etc. My car has a carb, so I just have to be cold and scrape, not the end of the world really...............


 
You can install a remote starter on a carburated (spelling?) car it only requires the installtion of an actuator on the throttle. Unless the car is REALLY difficult to start when cold.


----------



## nbp (Nov 19, 2009)

Doing this is asking for trouble, and yes, halogen work-lights get extremely hot. My dad plugged one in inside his garage and put it against against a window to shine outside, illuminating something he was working on just outside of the window. The heat from the light cracked the glass of the window. If you think your seats are gonna be able to take that heat without igniting, you are wrooooong. Return the light and use the $5 to buy a scraper.


----------



## jasonck08 (Nov 19, 2009)

Well I've already had the light on for several minutes in my house and I felt the ground around it and it was not that warm. It's not like I’m setting the actual light on a seat. It has a stand that keeps it upright about 6" or so, and then 80% of the heat is projected toward the reflector side which will be at least 2 feet away from anything.

I'm going to try it anyways despite what you guys say. I'm not worried about my car, don't care if something happens to my crappy old seat covers or anything else in for that matter... its an old car.

And even if it does not end up working very efficiently, I'm not going to return the light. 500W industrial worklight for $5 is a hell of a deal, I'll use it in my garage for extra light when I'm working on things.

And I said this once, but I'll say it again. I'm not interested in "remote starting" my car to waste fuel while my car idles with the heater / defroster on. Thats TERRIBLY innefficient and I drive to get the best MPG not to waste gas...


----------



## nbp (Nov 19, 2009)

> jasonck08 said:
> 
> 
> > I'm going to try it anyways despite what you guys say. I'm not worried about my car, don't care if something happens to my crappy old seat covers or anything else in for that matter... its an old car.



Then why did you ask us? :shrug:


----------



## jasonck08 (Nov 19, 2009)

nbp said:


> Then why did you ask us? :shrug:


 
I wasn't asking if it was a good idea or not, or of the potential dangers... I'm aware of all of that. I just wanted to know if you guys think that the generated heat from a 500W halogen bulb will be enough to melt off the ice in 20-30 minutes.



> So the question is, do you think it will work, and do you think it will melt the ice in this amount of time, and keep my car warm?


 
If you notice, I wasn't asking anything else.


----------



## nbp (Nov 19, 2009)

Oh, I'm sorry I misunderstood. 

Then to answer the REAL question: 

Yes, I think it will work......the ice will _*definitely*_ melt off when your car bursts into flames.... 













I hope you realize I'm just teasing with you here...


----------



## Linger (Nov 19, 2009)

OT=
True, sometimes people ask the wrong questions though; e.g. 'do you want to give me $1000 now or in ten minutes?' or...
If you care enough to drive efficiently, is it inconsistent to was electricity on light to make heat? minor ethical nit I suppose.
When I don't cycle, I usually don't drive long enough to heat the car up until spring. I wear a nice coat, toque, and gloves, and usually have the window down to keep the inside from frosting up.
/OT


----------



## jasonck08 (Nov 19, 2009)

Linger said:


> OT=
> True, sometimes people ask the wrong questions though; e.g. 'do you want to give me $1000 now or in ten minutes?' or...
> If you care enough to drive efficiently, is it inconsistent to was electricity on light to make heat? minor ethical nit I suppose.
> When I don't cycle, I usually don't drive long enough to heat the car up until spring. I wear a nice coat, toque, and gloves, and usually have the window down to keep the inside from frosting up.
> /OT


 
500W @ 20-30 minutes = ~166-250Whr's of energy (2.5-3 cents of electricity). Far less energy then what is required to run a car w/ heater and defroster on for 10 minutes.


----------



## Ken_McE (Nov 19, 2009)

jasonck08 said:


> So the question is, do you think it will work, and do you think it will melt the ice in this amount of time, and keep my car warm?



I think it has the potential to work. You've been warned enough about fire hazards so I can skip that. I wonder if a blow drier might also have potential? It has a fan to blow the air around too. Field testing will show how long is enough time.


----------



## jasonck08 (Nov 19, 2009)

Ken_McE said:


> I think it has the potential to work. You've been warned enough about fire hazards so I can skip that. I wonder if a blow drier might also have potential? It has a fan to blow the air around too. Field testing will show how long is enough time.


 
Yea good point about the hair drier. If the light doesn't work very well, or if its just to much of a pain to set up, then I think I might try that actually. A hair drier is much smaller than a heater and easier to position away from things. The hair drier would circulate the air and IIRC they are usually 500-700W or so on the higher settings...


----------



## Linger (Nov 19, 2009)

And it would solve the issue of all those wasted lumens.
I didn't just say that on cpf


----------



## greg_in_canada (Nov 19, 2009)

A heater like this would be better than a light: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006WNN6/?tag=cpf0b6-20

It's 750 watts on the low setting (which is more than you need), but the anti-freeze setting may be useful.

Greg


----------



## jasonck08 (Nov 19, 2009)

I've thought about that... but most of them recommend 3 feet clearence in front of it. I'll try the light first... lol


----------



## MarNav1 (Nov 20, 2009)

SneakyCyber said:


> You can install a remote starter on a carburated (spelling?) car it only requires the installtion of an actuator on the throttle. Unless the car is REALLY difficult to start when cold.


You have to pump the gas a bit (its old). Thanks for the tip though. :tinfoil:


----------



## 1138 (Nov 20, 2009)

jasonck08 said:


> 500W @ 20-30 minutes = ~166-250Whr's of energy (2.5-3 cents of electricity). Far less energy then what is required to run a car w/ heater and defroster on for 10 minutes.



While that _might_ be true in _money_ terms, it's not so straightforward to compare in _energy_ terms. Gasoline and electricity come from two vastly different production paths.

1 L of gasoline took energy to dig out of the ground as crude oil, energy to process into a refined product and energy to get to your car.

1 Watt-Hour of electricity took energy to dig up as fuel (for coal, gas, nuclear; construction energy for hydro, wind, solar), some energy of the fuel was lost converting from heat to electricity and some energy was lost in the transmission lines.

I don't have numbers to estimate which one is actually more efficient. But the cost of a certain type of energy source isn't the only thing to consider.


----------



## Lurker (Dec 3, 2009)

I use a safe, ceramic forced air heater like the one linked above (set to low power) and have for several years with absolutely no problems. It works great. 

The heater is on the floor in my back seat area blowing into clear space sideways across the floor area. The cord runs beside the rear seat and into the trunk. Each night I pull the cord out through the trunk opening and close the trunk on it. Then I pick up the extension cord laying in my driveway and connect it to the plug dangling at my rear bumper. At the electrical outlet, there is a lamp timer that turns on the power a couple of hours before I leave for work and turns it off shortly thereafter. The heater has a thermostat, so it just cycles on and off as necessary. 

All windows get completely defrosted and defogged and the car is comfortable. If I forget to unplug (or more likely, if my wife uses the car), the cord is set up to easily pull apart at the rear-bumper connection without damaging anything. That is the reason I keep the connection dangling by the rear bumper rather than inside the trunk (very important).

I live in North Carolina and while we get frost on a regular basis, it rarely gets below +20F. Snow is rarely a problem here, but this method will melt the layer against the glass and I can remove the rest easily with a brush. I think this setup would work great in colder areas, but YMMV. I agree that cold idling a car is to be avoided. It really ages the engine, not to mention the pollution and fuel cost.

Your light idea seems too dangerous to me, but will probably melt the ice. Even if you continue to use the light, you may be able to use some of my other tips. Good luck.


----------



## DR_DEUCE (Dec 3, 2009)

Did you ever think to just build a heated garage, to keep your car in?


----------



## IMSabbel (Dec 3, 2009)

jasonck08 said:


> I've thought about that... but most of them recommend 3 feet clearence in front of it. I'll try the light first... lol



Well, they do because they have to err on the side of careful.

I am sure your 500W light has an even higher "clear space" requirements. Hell, even my 35W reading light has "50cm minimum distance" on it.


----------



## LukeA (Dec 3, 2009)

DR_DEUCE said:


> Did you ever think to just build a heated garage, to keep your car in?



If it's just to keep ice off, it doesn't even need to be heated.


----------



## Thujone (Dec 3, 2009)

FWIW the beach towel approach seems to be a popular cheap fix... See it pretty frequently here.


----------



## turbodog (Dec 3, 2009)

I think the light is going to have a hard times transferring heat effectively to the windshield. 

You're talking about radiant energy from the light, which will go to the windshield if it's aimed that way. But that's going to get reflected and scattered.

Then you've got the heated air that will come from the light body, but that will go upward and set up some sort of convection path based on car layout/etc.

A fan forced heater pointed toward the windshield is a sure bet. Glass doesn't conduct heat very well, so this will give you a leg up in getting rid of all the ice, which happens to have a pretty high specific heat (it's harder to melt than you think).

Keep a watch on windshield temps. Too hot too fast and you're gonna crack it.

The fan part is the real difference. It will evenly heat the windshield (as best you can in an enclosure like a car).


----------



## T0RN4D0 (Dec 3, 2009)

Hehe, i bought a 2kW industrial "hair dryer", or (however you call those things for removing paint), it melts the ice pretty fast  The only problem is that the watter freezes over again if its too cld outside


----------



## B12 (Dec 3, 2009)

http://wup.defa.com/en/

You would be better off with these rather than using some makeshift warmers inside the car. Defa is the #1 in Finland and Scandinavia.


----------



## NonSenCe (Dec 3, 2009)

for work light. no dont do it. 
too much heat in small area as there is no air movement. (result: cracked windshield) need air circulation to prevent that. thats why i use the number 4. in the list below instead. 
and on the light there is the huge firehazard. nope. i wouldnt put anything like that in my car. and it too is old.. 1986 infact.. but i rather drive to work in morning.. not be late because i had to look as firemen put the flames out.

we up here in arctic circle use 
1. warm clothes and ice scraper. 
2. something to cover the windows. or whole cab of the car.
3. engine block heater to warm up the coolant (or in newer cars the oilpan too) so car gets warm quicker.. and also it saves the engine of the straining cold starts.
4. inside the cabin heater (specificly made for car environment..)


5. then the obvious ones: garage or any shelter with roof.. just the roof (no walls) do help alot to stop windows freezing.
6.the sprayable ice melters are rare and get expensive fast if you really do use it daily. 
7. squirtbottle filed with almost "straight" window washing antifreezing fluid also is said to be easy way to soften the ice..and cheaper than those commercial melter spraybottles.


----------



## turbodog (Dec 3, 2009)

B12 said:


> http://wup.defa.com/en/
> 
> You would be better off with these rather than using some makeshift warmers inside the car. Defa is the #1 in Finland and Scandinavia.



Probably costs more than his car is worth.


----------



## Diesel_Bomber (Dec 3, 2009)

Not quite what you had in mind, but the only thing I can share is Espar.

Espar makes fuel powered coolant heaters that require no outside power source. They have a timer and relay control for your vehicle's HVAC fan, so you can set the Espar to come on 1/2 hour before you leave in the morning for work and also turn on your HVAC fan, you having set it to full heat and defrost the night before. The timer is 7 day, so it can be set to turn on and off as needed for driving to work and driving home Monday through Friday, and stay off on the weekends. There's also a remote control, which is great for me as I often don't have more than a few minutes notice that I'll need to leave. I can turn on the heater, without leaving my house, when I first get out of bed and by the time I've taken a shower and gotten something to eat, the cab is heated, the windows are defrosted, and the engine is already at full operating temperature.

I paid ~$900 each for mine, and installed them myself. You could buy a lot of gas for that kind of $$$.

:buddies:

P.S. Make sure your battery is in good shape, the battery powers the coolant pump, fuel pump, burner fan, and your HVAC fan until you start the engine. I've never had an issue, but diesel trucks tend to have much stouter starting systems compared to gas cars.


----------



## blasterman (Dec 3, 2009)

If you had your own private, locked garage I'd opt for the cheap space heater on a timer. It's a bit 'ghetto', but it works.

However, running an extension cord to a locked car with a potential fire hazard is asking for trouble. some kids walk by and yank on the cord. Lamp / heater falls over onto seat. Fire dept then called to put out your car.


----------



## NonSenCe (Dec 4, 2009)

yeah that fancy all in one Defa set is expensive in my mind.. as it has the actual timer and temperature settings on that electronic controller. basic models are just on/off types. that fancy set i think are over 400euros even here.. and thats something like 600$. (which is almost as much as my car cost! hah) 

but if i recall right basic defa warmer that runs via electric cord from house electricity costs here about 50 dollars.

they are even cheaper models made by other "non leading brands". i think cheapest plug in the wall, mount into the car, cabin warmer i saw was under 20$. (they are different breed than the warmers buit for houses.. these handle moisture etc better and are safer to use in confined spaces like a car.) 

i use mine on basic 24hour timer device that plugs into wallsocket. i have programmed it to start about 30mins before i go into the car.. and it turns on the engineblock heater and the cabin warmer. so i have both inside of the car warm and the engine coolant.. but.. i dont use it as much as i should.. i only plug them on when the temperatures drop below 5-10f.

( i think i saw somewhere that preheated engine block saves almost a pint of fuel on every cold start. and less wear and tear on the engine internals)

as a side note. if you have problems with fog inside the windows in your car.. your car is too moist inside. seals leak or something.. floormats are wet etc.. and fog follows. (i just hate first scraping ice on the outside and then go sit in the car and scraping it off from inside too..) 

to prevent or to lessen the fogging i buy kitty litter made of silica gel granules and dump some of it inside the car (this year i have half a bag of it in wickbasket on the floor.. half a gallon or so  ) as they absorb moisture well. and i keep same amount in my non used cars and boat too. less funky mildew scent in spring.


----------



## Kestrel (Dec 4, 2009)

turbodog said:


> I think the light is going to have a hard times transferring heat effectively to the windshield.
> 
> You're talking about radiant energy from the light, which will go to the windshield if it's aimed that way. But that's going to get reflected and scattered.


My thoughts exactly - the only part of the car that won't warm up effectively from all that radiant heat will be the (white & reflective) frosty windshield. However, all that nice non-reflective interior vinyl (melting point: 100 to 250degC - at which point the combustion temperature is reached) will heat up easily, no problems there at all. :huh:


----------



## QtrHorse (Dec 5, 2009)

Where did you buy that cheap light at that the instructions did not say to keep it away from flammable items? I only bring this up because you keep using that as an excuse to not use any of the other heater type items other people are recommending.

Do I think it will warm up the car more than it already is in 30 minutes, yes. Do I think it make it so your windshield wipers just sweep the ice away, no. Do I think you will either catch your car on fire or damage your seat, yes.

After you damage your vehicle from this little experiment, please take pictures.

Your best bet would be to smear Vasoline all over the windshield the night before.

Even better, maybe you could get one of those Super Soaker guns and squirt it directly onto the winshield from your window before going down to the car in the morning.


----------



## will (Dec 6, 2009)

All you would need is someone tripping on the extension cord and tipping the light over. I would not suggest using any kind of heating in an unattended car.


----------



## tebore (Dec 6, 2009)

jasonck08 said:


> I've had ice on my car every morning this week. Today it was kind of thick. I had to go back inside and get a pan of* cold water* and then scrape the ice off.



Maybe if you used warm or hot water it wouldn't be so hard. 

I don't get it how much frost can you have in CA? Unless CA stands for Canada. 

In the winter we can can get up to a foot of snow building up on our cars every night (some have it worse). Takes maybe 2 minutes to clear the windshield max. Don't they sell windshield washing fluid with alcohol on it? That should just melt the ice in seconds unless it's an inch thick.

Either way if you do decide to go with the 500watt option I'd like to see what happens.


----------



## Lips (Dec 6, 2009)

.



*Ungo Remote* (by Clarion)


I have this Remote Start & it's very nice (has an LED backlight on it too!)


Cranks your vehicle remotely - on demand, at a specific time, or every so many hours for a set run-time in any mode...












.


----------



## will (Dec 6, 2009)

tebore said:


> Maybe if you used warm or hot water it wouldn't be so hard.



Don't throw warm or hot water on the glass, that is a sure way to crack it..


----------



## tebore (Dec 6, 2009)

will said:


> Don't throw warm or hot water on the glass, that is a sure way to crack it..



You're right, and since it's a windshield it'll shatter. 

But...

When there's talk of a 500 watt halogen light sitting in a car full of flammables I think a crack of is the least of the worries.


----------



## will (Dec 6, 2009)

tebore said:


> You're right, and since it's a windshield it'll shatter.
> 
> But...
> 
> When there's talk of a 500 watt halogen light sitting in a car full of flammables I think a crack of is the least of the worries.



yep..

I lived in New York most of my life. When it gets cold, you go out 10 minutes early, start the car, and brush the snow off, or wait a few minutes for the defroster to start to work and then scrape the ice off.


----------



## Hooked on Fenix (Dec 6, 2009)

A squirt bottle of denatured alcohol or low temperature freezing windshield wiper fluid will work. So will a ice scraper. I wonder if you leave a high wattage work light in a car with a glass lens, won't it's glass lens break first? Then you could have an exposed bulb (that could explode as well) in a car filled with things that are flammable or could melt. If you want to defrost a windshield with heat, look at a truckstop for a forced air heater. They usually carry them at Pilot.


----------



## RH (Dec 7, 2009)

I'll put ego aside for the sake of helping someone else here...don't put even warm water on an icy windshield. I knew this was a dumb idea, but also knew people do it all the time with no problems. Suffice to say I cracked my windshiled top to bottom. A $200 windshield was an expensive price to pay for saving a little scraping.


----------



## was.lost.but.now.found (Dec 7, 2009)

RH said:


> I'll put ego aside for the sake of helping someone else here...don't put even warm water on an icy windshield. I knew this was a dumb idea, but also knew people do it all the time with no problems. Suffice to say I cracked my windshiled top to bottom. A $200 windshield was an expensive price to pay for saving a little scraping.


 
It's luck of the draw. I used to wash cars as a part time job in college. Would wash 15-30 a day, 5-6 days a week for three years without issue. But then I got one with a small flaw, probably a windshield chip. It had set it in direct sunlight on a hot day, and 'cold' tapwater tapwater cracked it. I learned from that as well; plus the boss wasn't too happy.


----------



## get-lit (Dec 7, 2009)

I had to read all the way through to the second page to see if this thread was a joke. Joke or not, it sure is humorous. Most winter days I shovel a foot of snow to get out of the driveway in the morning, and then again to get out of the parking lot at work to get back home. I just start the car 5 minutes before I leave and it comes off easy. Otherwise I have to chisel it for about 30 minutes.

Just out of curiosity, are you one of those people that brings those personal hand held fans to the beach?


----------



## nbp (Dec 7, 2009)

The OP has not checked in here in nearly 3 weeks, I'm curious to know what he ended up doing to solve this issue, and what the results were. Did he try the halogen light or not? If he did, did it work? If he didn't, what did he decide on? 

I stand by my advice to just buy a scraper. It's cheap, fool-proof, requires no external energy source (except the human holding it of course), and poses little danger of setting your car on fire. Mine works like a champ every morning. 

Don't forget your mittens.


----------



## get-lit (Dec 7, 2009)

Well if he was still dead set on using "light" to heat the windshield, he'd be much better off using a quartz infrared heat lamp... more efficient at generating directed heat.

Or he could use a parabolic space heater. They work really well at throwing heat.


----------



## rx78gp02 (Dec 8, 2009)

just thinking outside of the box here:

Perhaps someone can experiment with this, but what if you were to put a thin layer of some type of oil along the outside of the windshield. Wouldn't the oil be enough to prevent any ice from forming?


----------



## was.lost.but.now.found (Dec 8, 2009)

rx78gp02 said:


> just thinking outside of the box here:
> 
> Perhaps someone can experiment with this, but what if you were to put a thin layer of some type of oil along the outside of the windshield. Wouldn't the oil be enough to prevent any ice from forming?


 
I'll let someone else be the guinea pig for that one.


----------



## nbp (Dec 8, 2009)

I can only imagine the mess on your windshield as the layer of oil mixes with dirt and slush and salt from road spray, and then you hit your wipers and it smears all over the place....no thanks. I need to see out of my windshield.


----------



## funkymonkey1111 (Dec 8, 2009)

did you ever consider going to walmart and buying a $3 scraper? you can clean your windshield in about 30 seconds. and, sorry to tell you, 28 to 30F isn't cold.


----------



## Gordo (Jan 30, 2010)

Just thinking out loud, with some imagation. Similar to the DEFA system but cabin only, battery operated (no external cord), timer turn on.
All safe for a car. 12-vdc inverter so that it charges when the engine is running. My 12-v power on my car doesn't work if the car isn't running.
How much heat could be produced? Enough from a reasonable battery size?


----------



## Random Guy (Jan 30, 2010)

rx78gp02 said:


> just thinking outside of the box here:
> 
> Perhaps someone can experiment with this, but what if you were to put a thin layer of some type of oil along the outside of the windshield. Wouldn't the oil be enough to prevent any ice from forming?


I have had oil on the rear windshield of my car before (oil plug fell out- long story), and all the wipers are able to do is smear it. Windshield was impossible to see out of.


----------



## Nitroz (Jan 30, 2010)

I wonder what happend to Jason's car?

I hope he didn't go outside and say, Dude, Where's My Car?, only to see this.


----------



## funkymonkey1111 (Jan 30, 2010)

rx78gp02 said:


> just thinking outside of the box here:
> 
> Perhaps someone can experiment with this, but what if you were to put a thin layer of some type of oil along the outside of the windshield. Wouldn't the oil be enough to prevent any ice from forming?



is this some kind of comedy routine?


----------

