You wake up late on an icy cold morning, you have to drop kids to school and make it to work on time, but your windshield is FROZEN. So, you quickly heat up a pot of water and pour it to thaw the ice faster and save you some time. But what happens instead?  

CRACK

Your entire windshield is now cracked; you won’t be able to save the time you were trying to save and end up losing money to get the windshield repaired as well.  

Effects of Hot Water on Windshields

Contraction and expansion of glass are something we learned about in school. Extreme and quick temperature changes can cause the glass to fracture or shatter, and this applies to the windshield as well, even though it is a much heavier, durable, and strong glass.  

Apart from cracking or shattering a windshield, hot water can lead to many other damages:

• Paintwork damage: Not only will the hot water damage your windshield, it will flow down and damage the paintwork of your vehicle as well. The protective wax coating on the paintwork can be melted by scalding hot water, leaving a white mark that is difficult to remove.
• Burns from steam: Burning yourself by pouring boiled water on a windshield is extremely easy, from either water directly or from the steam generated when the water contacts the ice. Better to not take the risk.

You might be wondering now if you could put cool or lukewarm water to thaw the icy windshield? The cooler water might also end up turning into ice due to the chilly weather and icy windshield. This will make matters worse, and you might risk scratching your windshield.

In order to remove the thick icy layer from your windshield, it is recommended that you use an ice scraper or a de-icer spray to avoid damaging your windshield.

If you do, however, end up damaging your windshield, get it repaired or replaced by a trusted auto glass shop like True Blue Auto Glass, which will get your windshield back to its former glory in no time.