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How to Get the Fog Off My Windscreen

Attempting to get out of bed when your alarm goes off has become a mission and you’re probably thinking ‘is it really that time again’?

The mornings have become darker and colder, and it almost feels like you’ve caught a cold on that quick brisk sprint from the shower to your room. Shivering its way through one of the coldest months of the year, Perth temperatures in the metro area have plunged to as low as 3.8C, the lowest since the even frostier 1.7C in September 2017.

Temperatures dropped even further along the countryside with Gingin recording as low as 1.3C, Collie 2.1C and 3C in Bunbury.

 

You eventually make it out of the house, get into your car and before you know it your windscreen is all fogged up. It’s something that we all can’t escape and certainly should not be driving with, so how do we deal with it?

 

Why does my window fog up?

 

What better way to resolve the issue than to first understand why it occurs in the first instance. Windscreen fogging occurs when water vapor condenses on the inside of the glass and can happen in two different ways:

 

  • The air that has been trapped in the car from the day before is usually going to hold quite a bit of moisture. Once the air outside begins to drop the humidity inside the car begins to build up and once it comes in contact with the windshield it begins to condense leaving behind fog on the glass.

 

  • The other circumstance is actually from when we exhale in the car. We take in the cold air and exhale out warm and humid air that contains moisture. Every breath we take emits more moisture into the car, which eventually condenses on the glass causing it to fog up. You may also notice it fogs up a lot faster when there are more people in the car.

 

How to defog your window

 

  • Step 1: Get the heat cranking.
    After starting your vehicle, use the defroster setting, and turn the heater all the way up to absorb any moisture left in the air from the night before.

  • Step 2: Turn on the A/C.
    As counterintuitive as that sounds, turning on the A/C actually helps dry the air within your vehicle faster but absorbing the moisture before circulating it.

  • Step 3: Turn off air recirculation.
    With the air outside being considerably dry, it is a good idea to turn the recirculation off allowing this air to enter the vehicle. This will saturate the inside of your vehicle with more dry air.

  • Step 4: Open your window.
    To speed up the process you may open your window a smidge to let the hot air out in exchange for some cold air.

 

What if it’s frosty?

Clearing the frost on the outside is a completely different process and can be done at the same time as the defogging.

There are a number of ways to defrost, you can either scrap it off using a squidgy or cloth, of if you are like me and can’t stand scraping you can mix up a simple alcohol solution made of isopropyl or rubbing alcohol and water into a spray bottle.

Apply this to the outside of your windshield and that should defrost/ prevent frosting from occurring due to alcohol having a very low freezing point.

One of the biggest No-No’s in defrosting your windscreen is using hot water as this can cause your glass to crack and we do not want that!

 

We care about autoglass and your safety. Whether it is about repairing or replacing your windscreen or simply taking care of your car so you always drive safe, you can count on us to provide plenty of reliable information and provide a top quality service, should you visit any of our branches in Perth, Kalgoorlie and Newman.