I just googled it. One hit says don’t pour hot water on it. Another says do pour hot water on it. One even said to breath on it with my warm breath. C’mon, I’m not this dude!
138
5905
Hang on. Texting the wife right now. She’s got some kind of concoction she swears by.
EDIT: OK, Mrs 138 says 2:1 rubbing alcohol to water (hot) and 1/2 tsp of Dawn Dish Detergent. Mix and pour or spray. I have no idea if this works. Some internet folks say yea, others nay.
Take a bottle of vodka, pour half of it into a glass. Drink the other half.
Now you’re too drunk to drive. Problem solved!
Take this solution and add the flamethrower. Result? Something awesome!
Houngan
5908
You can pour hot water on it, BUT avoid pouring it on windows as much as possible, as the temperature differential could cause cracking. That may not be a thing any more with modern windows but I would still avoid it. Get something that pours a stream, like a teapot, and use it like a laser to melt out the door edges. Might still be frozen inside and it’s time wasted, but it usually works. I don’t know how cold it has been in STL, here I would be all for hot water because it has been relatively warm, so my car should have a lot of stored heat to hold off the internal freezing when the rain hits.
I would get a door open then turn the car on and let the heater work until it generated some internal temp, which should decouple the ice from the surface, and then you can pretty easily establish a foothold with a scraper and take it off in sheets.
I may try this later. Right now it’s 15 degrees. Tomorrow the low is zero.
First, I just want to get into the car so I can run the heater and defroster. I cleared off the snow last night but it does have a layer of ice.
It would be nice to get out to buy that extension cord. We have plenty of food but I am out of my diet soda. But whatever – if we are stuck at home for a few days that’s ok too.
Whatever you do, do NOT pour anything into the key hole (if your car even has such a thing any more). I speak from experience…
Houngan
5911
15 is kinda marginal. Do it now or commit to not doing it at all. Definitely negative feedback loops happen once it gets too cold.
I am working now so I don’t really have all that much time to mess with it. At this point I’d be happy if some teenagers came by looking to shovel snow for money. I’d pay them well.
I prefer the more spiritual approach:
Hahahaa, teenagers doing work.
CraigM
5916
Genuine question, how thick is the ice on the door?
For me, what always worked best, was locationally applied use of force. Take gloved hand, make fist, and hit the door about 1” or so away from the lock mechanism. Do so using a down swing with the bottom of said fist. Like so
Don’t do full power, just enough to break the ice loose. The goal is dislodge the ice near the locking mechanism and any ice that has formed near the latch inside
Obvious if the ice is like an inch thick this is no good, but 1/4”? Worked for me.
I think I found a photo of the ice he is dealing with:
Houngan
5920
Probably worth mentioning too: boiling water isn’t necessary, just pretty hot water, it isn’t going to turn into an icicle out of the can or instantly become a new coat of ice unless it’s really, really cold.
rshetts
5921
Probably too late for this ice problem of yours but have you tried a blow dryer? My go to for frozen doors is to use a blow dryer and then lightly tap the door with a rubber mallet to help break it free.
Houngan
5922
Right now I’m just walking out every hour and sweeping the slush off my car, I figure that should at least greatly reduce the thickness once it gets cold enough to really freeze.
Yeah - I just shoveled 2" of sleet slush off my driveway. That much ice is heavy. I’d rather do it before it becomes a solid iceberg, even though it means another round or two of shoveling once we change over to snow.
