What to do if frostbite is frozen

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Alcohol, hair dryer and other methods that will help you quickly solve the problem.

Why does non-freezing freeze

There are two options:

1. Non-freezing mixed with water or summer washer, and therefore began to freeze at higher temperatures.
2. The liquid is simply of poor quality, its parameters do not correspond to the declared ones.

As a result, at low temperatures, the liquid thickens and crystallizes. The pump cannot pump it, and the glass washer stops working.

How to melt ice in a washer

1. Place the machine in a warm place

Perhaps this is the simplest, most effective and obvious solution. If possible, park your car for a few hours in a heated garage or in a warm parking lot. While you are walking around the mall or watching a movie, the frozen ice-free will completely thaw out.

2. Warm up the engine well

Another simple way is to warm up the engine thoroughly during a long trip, and with it the engine compartment, in which the reservoir with the frozen washer is located.

Unfortunately, this option is unlikely to work in cars in which the washer reservoir is located far from the engine or is intensively blown by oncoming air currents. In this situation, it will not only not get warm, but will freeze even more, even if a concentrate of winter washer is used.

3. Remove the tank

Quite a simple and, importantly, an effective method that will suit the owners of domestic cars and some foreign cars. If the washer reservoir is located immediately under the hood, it can be easily removed by unscrewing just a couple of nuts, and then warmed up at home under running water or in a basin.

Never pour boiling water over the body of the tank: the walls may crack. It is best to start with lukewarm water and gradually increase the temperature to hot.

On most foreign cars, turning this focus is problematic. Manufacturers often place the washer in hard-to-reach places somewhere in the cavity of the bumper or one of the front fenders and it can be removed only by disassembling half of the car.

4. Preheat the tank with a hair dryer

If you live in a private house or you can connect to a 220 V network, you can try to melt the ice in the tank with an ordinary hairdryer. If you bring it close, the temperature can reach 70–80 ° С. Therefore, proceed with caution and heat the tank gradually to avoid damaging the plastic.

The big advantage of the hair dryer over the previous method is that you can at the same time defrost the liquid in the washer pipes and nozzles if they are also frozen.

5. Add concentrate or alcohol to the tank

Even an inexpensive winter washer concentrate or any alcohol, in contact with ice, will melt it and at the same time improve the properties of thawing anti-freeze.

To improve the effect, you can additionally heat the container with the concentrate in a water bath or in a basin of warm water. Be careful with open flames: the anti-freeze contains alcohol and its vapors!

The disadvantage of this method is that it will only help in those cases when the tank is half full or almost empty. If it is full, there is simply nowhere to top up the concentrate.

5. Use hot water in the sink

In the most extreme case, you can go to the nearest sink and warm up the tank with hot water. Ask the operator to lower the hose into the filler neck of the tank and supply warm water at a minimum pressure. The running water will not cool down and will completely melt the ice in a few minutes.

The main disadvantage of the method is that water can get on the generator, wiring, fuse box and other auto parts that are not intended for contact with liquids. You need to act as carefully as possible!

What to do next

Melting a frozen non-freeze is only half the battle. As soon as the washer starts working, it is necessary to immediately remove everything that is left in the reservoir. This can be done by pouring water on the glass using a standard wiper or by disconnecting and lowering the tube leading to the nozzles on the hood into the bottle. Other options are to drain the fluid through a hose or pump it out with a large syringe.

If the ice has thawed, but the liquid still does not pour onto the glass, it means that the washer tubes or nozzles are also frozen. Warm up the engine well enough to get them working.

Immediately after that, be sure to fill the tank with a quality winter washer with a freezing point appropriate for your region, and just in case it is better even with a small margin.

How to prevent frostbite from freezing in the future

1. Use a quality anti-freeze. Do not buy cheap liquids off the road and fill only those that are suitable for the weather conditions.
2. After replacing the water or summer washer with a winter one, be sure to spray several times on the glass so that the residues come out of the pipes and nozzles and do not freeze in the cold.
3. Add only concentrate to the tank so that the properties of the anti-freeze residues do not deteriorate.
4. Do not fill more than half of the tank so that you have somewhere to fill the concentrate if the liquid does freeze. Better to carry stock in the trunk and top up if necessary.
5. Install a tank heater and heated nozzles. On some cars, these are available as an additional or even a basic option, but you can also find individual parts for self-installation on any car on sale.