Like car windows? I’d guess it’s just such a battery killer; if your car was inside (i.e. where power likely available) it wouldn’t be much of an issue in the first place.
Hi, I grew up in the tropics and have a question about cold weather life: why isn’t there a product like some kind of heat tape to let you warm glassy surfaces to prevent the buildup of snow and ice?
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Something you could turn on minutes before you wanted to go drive, say.
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starting up your car remotely is the typical solution
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So that’s how people do it!
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Grew up in Michigan just going out & starting the car 10min before leaving. Next: remote start. Generally it's also an issue of power. Heat tape (or similar) needs a power source to generate the heat, and don't have that w/o the car battery on. If car is on, the heater is, too :)
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Did you also have to scrape off the snow and ice, or was starting the car sufficient to just deal with it?
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Starting the car was sufficient to melt the snow/ice to the point where scraping was a non-issue. Only exception was when we had ice storms, but it's not very common even in Michigan.
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Worst I’ve experienced was when I left the scraper inside the car, and the doors were frozen shut. “uhhh… now what?” :P (also from a hot climate, oops)
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Mansplainer bait of the day! (This will be interesting to watch)
Waiting for the first science guy to appearpic.twitter.com/p6UChao8Xo -
It’s a genuine question and I want answers..
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Do the cars in Hawaii not have heaters in the rear windows?
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Why would we ever use them? And why don’t all the windows have the heater?
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The US banned heater lines in front windows in the 80s (visibility problems). Before that, big windshields usually had 3 lines at the bottom, which melted a gap and made the whole sheet slide down on angled windshields.
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RainX helps: ice swipes off easier when it can't stick to the surface as well.
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What is RainX
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Technically it's a "a hydrophobic silicone polymer". Practically, it's a product you buy and spray on the window to form a coating that repels waters (and ice).
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Like a tape you would apply on the inside face to prevent or reverse that buildup on the outside face?
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Yes exactly.
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Are there similar tapes for other kinds of surfaces? I'm not familiar with them if so, but the idea is fascinating.
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"Range Rover" They have heated wires in the front window too.
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Can you start the heating remotely? Does it work to fully deice the windows?
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Not remotely, but it clears pretty fast once you start the engine - much faster than waiting for engine to heat up the air to heat up the window.
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ForD and Jaguar cars have also have this as an option in the UK. The wires are much finder than those on a rear windscreen. I don't recall seeing these on e.g. BMWs, and wondered if Ford holds some patent on the concept
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