Batboard

Hey guys. Was watching TV today and saw an add for a new Buick that is being offered with a heated washer fluid system. I looked around online and found an aftermarket one called the "hotshot". Was wondering if anyone out there used a heated washer fluid system, and their thoughts on it. Looking at putting one in my Ford Escape, however at close to $200 seems a bit of an expensive option when my ice scraper and rain-ex deicer fluid totals to under $20.

A part of me thought that using hot water to de-ice and defrost the windshield could cause the windshield to crack...I guess my thoughts were wrong.

Here is a photo of the hotshot unit.

There was a unit out a few years back that used the vehicles engine cooling system to heat a small water tank that had the washer fluid running through it in a series of coils. It supposedly worked pretty good but relied on the engine being up to temp. That Hotshot unit looks like it uses an electric heater of some sort, so it would work almost instantly, which would be an advantage. My only concern is what happens when that hot water hits a minus 20 or colder windshield. Will it crack? I also remember high school science class where we learned that hot water freezes quicker than cold water. Wonder if this is a problem.

I also saw that commerical and thought it was cool, however it dosent shoot hot water onto the windshield, It steams it. I still cant tell you if that is going to crack the windshield, but if they are doing it on the buick then i would like to think that they have that covered.

Might be a good thing. I like the heating grids that Chrysler put in the windshields of their vans. Haven't used them, but it sounds good.

I believe the unit is more of a "on demand" hot water system. Similar to what is found in hotels with the "hot water" tap. I didn't think that it steamed the water, I thought that it actually did heat it, and keep it in a liquid form.

From the microheat website:

HotShot produces heated washer fluid in about 30 seconds and automatically sprays it onto the windshield. The hot-liquid stream dramatically improves driver visibility by successfully and efficiently cleaning what cold solvent cannot. HotShot —

The company's engineers have years of experience in developing solutions for electrically heating liquids and designing innovative heating products. They determined the optimal temperature of the washer fluid to clear the windshield without causing the glass to crack or shatter.
The fluid is sprayed at about 63 °C.


How it works. HotShot takes about 30 seconds to heat washer fluid to 145 °F (63 °C) on vehicles that have been parked overnight in very cold conditions. HotShot is ready to operate before rear window defrosters start to work and before electric seats warm up.
http://www.microheat.com/Products_Windshield.asp

Tech225 wrote:There was a unit out a few years back that used the vehicles engine cooling system to heat a small water tank that had the washer fluid running through it in a series of coils. It supposedly worked pretty good but relied on the engine being up to temp..

maybe something like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Windshie ... enameZWDVW

That's not exactly it, but real close. Pretty much the same thing though.

The heated washers that I've seen, VW/Audi, use small heating coils in the actual washer jets. Not sure how effective they were though, not much call for them in sunny Canberra, Australia.

I don't get it. The washer fluid I've seen is alcohol based and doesn't freeze (within reason) anyway. The thing that keeps the system from working when most needed is the spray nozzle being frozen and clogged.

What does this thing do to prevent that?

Hot water on very cold glass. This had be invented by someone in the replacement windshield business.

I knew a guy a while back who had an aftermarket fluid warmer like seen above, but it didnt really heat the liquid, it just warmed it a little. It did seem however that the windshield would get a nasty white haze on it after u used it, if you didnt keep it clean. It sorta looked like that crusty stuff on glasses when they come out of the dishwasher from a reallly hot cycle.

I am not sure if it had anything to do with the type of fluid he was using or not...

wa2zdy wrote:I don't get it. The washer fluid I've seen is alcohol based and doesn't freeze (within reason) anyway. The thing that keeps the system from working when most needed is the spray nozzle being frozen and clogged.

What does this thing do to prevent that?

That would explain the heated washer nozzles then. If the nozzle is kept above freezeing then the washers work. Now keeping the fluid from freezing when it hits the windscreen is another matter, and the reason for high alcohol content winter washer fluid. Interesting aside, when I worked for SAAB we were warned not to drink the washer fluid as some people had done! I also found that traffic Police doing random breath tests look at you very strangely when your car stinks of alcohol but you don't because you've just washed the windscreen.

wa2zdy wrote:I don't get it. The washer fluid I've seen is alcohol based and doesn't freeze (within reason) anyway. The thing that keeps the system from working when most needed is the spray nozzle being frozen and clogged.

What does this thing do to prevent that?

I think the main purpose is by spraying warm/hot fluid on an icy windshield any ice/frost will melt quickly.

I too don't really get it as far as preventing the fluid from freezing up. In the winter around here I buy the -45 celsius stuff. Never had a problem.

Thanks irsa and WXM. I had looked for any reference to heated nozzles and didn't see any. Perhaps I missed it. THAT would be a positive idea indeed. As WXM says, freezing fluid isn't the problem. The heated nozzles would cure what I see as the REAL problem.

And I wouldn't think drinking washer fluid for the alcohol to be a serious problem in the free world. I do remember back in the days of the Soviet Union that the military had trouble with jet fuel and brake fluid, for exactly that reason.

One never knows.

FYI I have one of these installed on my 06 Ford Escape Hybrid...really nice!

It works well, takes about 30sec to heat it up hot enough to melt off all of the frost in one pass. The other feature that is nice is it expells some steam in the beginning of the heating process on purpose to clear out frozen washer nozzles.

No cracked windshield yet....

Reminds me of an experience with a young officer who, in the middle of winter, was washing a police car behind the police station. When I informed him that his actions would cause a dangerous icing condition, he informed me that the hose was connected to the "hot" water valve on a sink in the garage.

...because that water, once hot...stays that way. ::genius::

How sore was his backside after that little exercise? Because either he got kicked up the backside or he landed on it.