Winter soon: heated washer fluid

Hello, I'm lazy and I leave for work at 7am in the mornings for a 1hour drive. Last winter it was a case of pouring tepid water onto the windscreen to de-ice, etc...

I was thinking is there a way for 'improvising' or bodging a washer fluid heater to warm up the fluid to assist de-icing. I've seen an aftermarket solution which actually heats the washer fluid to about 60-70oC but that costs >75.

My idea was to take a plastic hose, connect to the washer pump, wrap it several times around a coolant pipe (which gets warm quick) and then feed it to the washer jets. Has anyone tried this?
Edited by: garfayliu

 

erm doesn't the mk2 come with this as stock?


my jetta has electric connections to the wiper jets i assumed these were heating elements

 

you could buy a similar device years ago....it was basicly copper brake pipe that wrapped around a coolant hose about 8 times or so and it cut into you washer hose

 

yeah you can get heated washer jets (not standard on most cars probably just later mk2's)

but im not sure if these warm the water on exit, or jst stop the washerjets icing up.

anyone ?

an on a similar note anyone know where i should wire the heated washer jets up to i bought some in the summer ready for winter but never wired them in so i need to sort them before the big freeze would i be right in thinking they wire in the same as the heated mirrors on the rear demistor feed?

cheers

and to answer the origional question you probably could wrap pipe around a hot water pipe to warm up the water a bit but you would need a lot of wrappin or elese the water would just pass over the pipe to quickly to absorb any heat.

infact it might be better to use copper pipe instead of normal plasti pipe, because it would absorb the heat quicker maybe?

 

All my Mk2 GTIs have had heated washer jets (from '89 F to '91 J). All they do is stop the actual jets icing up, and I believe they are turned on and off with the rear demister switch.

Have you tried that stuff you spray on the night before that stops the ice bonding to your screen? All you need to do is use the wipers to clear the screen and you're off. Or so it says!

 

Hi, thanks for the replies...

Note: I'm aware of the heated washer jets, but as some of you have said, they just stop the jets from freezing and blocking. They don't heat the water to assist with the melting of ice on windscreen.

The use of copper pipe around the coolant hose sounds good, though not as easy as plastic.

pigbladder: Do you know who sold this? I doubt I'd buy it, just want to know how it was done.

Steve B: I'd wire the heated washer jets to the rear window demister. A connection to earth and a single connection through to cabin and dash to demister switch. Don't think its necessary for relay. I think the 20A fuse is more than enough.

I had an extreme thought were I could stick a heating element inside the washer bottle, but don't think it would go down well with an alcoholic fluid!!

 

no idea who made it....it was very simple, just copper brake pipe that fits into your washer hose, and it was coiled like a spring to go around a heater hose

 

Thanks.. I think I'll give it a try this winter. Could shave a vital 5 minutes and frozen fingers from my daily commute.

Do any cars have front wind screen demisters? like in rear window.. i.e. very fine wires.

 

alot of fords have heated from screens

 

the only problem with heated water is that it will cool and freeze faster because of the vapouration effect

 

The standard heated washer jets just have a power feed & earth, & as I remember they're on all the time (there must be some sort of thermostat built into the nozzle part so they don't overheat). There's no need to cut into the heated rear window circuit

 

This is interesting! I wonder what effect it would have on the washer fluid which is part anti-freeze/alcohol and part water.
Edited by: garfayliu

 

At the risk of sounding stupid, I'm sure I read once that although hot
water cools faster than cold water, because it's hotter to begin with,
it takes longer to reach the same temperature

 

Take a short length of 22mm copper pipe, give it a light coat of plumbing flux. Take a longer length of copper brake pipe, give it a very light coat of plumbing flux. wrapthe brake pipe about 12 turns round the 22mm pipe, then get a (decent, ideally MAP gas) blowtorch and a roll of plumber's solder on it till it is totally covered in solder and the pipes are firmly soldered together all along. Allow to cool, then cut the 22mm into yout heater matrix line, and your washer pipes onto the brake lines. Job done, for about 3 quid.

 

why not just buy a long length of plastic screen wash pipe and wrap it around the heater hope10 mins and about a quid faster and cheaper
Edited by: motorhead

 

why not just spray some feckin de-icer

lazy? you only have to use your finger!

ps:i used to spray the screen etc,the night before too if i knew it was gonna be icy the next day.

didnt seem to help much tbh so ill shut the f up

 

Hi, been doing some googling.

I'm not convinced that warm water freezes faster than cold water, I think it depends on the circumstances, etc. Last winter I used a plasitc bottle filled with luke warm water and work fine everytime.

A few of you have suggested methods for heating the washer fluid. Have you tried this yourself and what are the results?

 

none of that will help/work if your washer bottle is frozen

last year i ran my washer fluid straight out of the can undiluted, it didnt freeze at all..although it would get pricey if you do alot of miles

ive also heard of people running the pipes/wire nside the car for the winter, that would also help keep it from freezing

 

That would be an extreme winter if the liquid in the bottle froze too. I'd call in and work from home in that case.

 

Build a garage

seriously though, just put a blanket over the windscreen the night before, works for the miss's car! - Mines nice and warm in the garage
Edited by: gti_kev