How Air Conditioning Can Affect Your Windshield

What happens when you pour boiling hot water in a cold glass? The glass contracts because of the cold and expands immediately as it comes in contact with hot water; which causes it to shatter. The same holds true for windshields; only you aren’t going to pour water on it, right?

Instead, it’s your air conditioning that has that effect on windshields; especially those with cracks in them. If your windshield has any minor cracks or stone chips on it, turning your AC on in the blazing summer heat can end up making the situation much worse.

How Can Air Conditioning Effect My Windshield?

Windshields expand and contract with respect to temperature changes to improve weather resistance. If your car is parked under the sun on a hot summer day, you might be tempted to immediately turn on the air conditioning and cool down your car.

But by doing so, you accelerate the expansion and contraction process, leading to decreasing windshield integrity. This can not only result in new cracks forming on your windshield, but it can also cause pre-existing cracks or stone chips to spread out rapidly. You will need to get a windshield replacement in this case.

The same is true for extreme cold temperatures as well. If your car is parked outside in the snow and you turn on the heater on full blast, it can lead to cracks.

What Can I Do About This?

If your car is exposed to extreme temperatures, we recommend turning up the air conditioner or heater slowly. Let the windshield adjust. If possible, park your car in the shade or in your garage to make exposure less drastic.

Getting small cracks or stone chips repaired in your windshield can also help increase the life of your windshield drastically.

To reduce the impact of air conditioning on your windshield, we recommend inspecting your windshield today for small cracks or stone chips. If you find any, get them taken care of right away by giving us a call today and letting us come to you!