Heated front windscreen

[vfrguy]

Hi 

How do people find the heated front windscreen on the MkIV?

I've got it, but to be honest I'am disappointed, I've been using it every day this week & it seems to be barely faster than using the fan, it takes over 5 minutes to clear the frost.

Is this normal, or do others find it works faster in their cars?

 

Thanks in advance

 

[zetzet]

There is no magic. It takes a couple of minutes, but you can also try using the wipers before it's completely melted removing a lot of the frost will speed it up. It's still faster than waiting for the air to heat up and if there is snow and you have to remove the snow I find it pretty much defrosts the whole thing while I go around the car. 

[vfrguy]

Thanks for the reply, so yours clears it in a couple of minutes?

[gando]

I paid extra for this functionality and am not disappointed! Maybe it's me coming from a 18 year old motor to new, but I don't think so.

 

Yes, it takes maybe a few (5?) minutes, however I can relax in my heated seat while it happens 😄 Then just stick the wipers on for a min and it's all gone.

 

Unless the car has an inbuilt blowtorch, I don't think it could be quicker.

 

[Skodamias]

17 hours ago, vfrguy said:

Hi 

How do people find the heated front windscreen on the MkIV?

I've got it, but to be honest I'am disappointed, I've been using it every day this week & it seems to be barely faster than using the fan, it takes over 5 minutes to clear the frost.

Is this normal, or do others find it works faster in their cars?

 

Thanks in advance

 

 

I find it like you do, underwhelming. It's much slower than in my previous car, which was a octavia 3 estate. It's still moderately useful but i feel a bit cheated.

[gando]

As someone who has never had this, I feel like a fanboy.

 

In your previous motors, why do you think it was quicker? I was expecting lines like the back window, but understand why that would look terrible.

[Skodamias]

Hard to say. This one feels just less powerful. I've had heating with wires and without wires and both made ice turn to water quickly. This one takes minutes to see any effect.

[Ootohere]

VW group will eventually get there.

 

 

 

 

 

[TheWanderer]

It usually takes a few minutes to work, but you can assist it, by turning up the heat and putting the car air conditioning system into recirculation mode, so that it will use/draw the warmer air from inside the car, rather than the cold air from outside. 

[Ootohere]

Where is it  you get your warmer air from when the ambient temps are below freezing and you have no pre heater?

[TheWanderer]

The air inside the car is going to be slightly warmer than the air outside of it, especially if you are in the car, that slight difference between the two makes a difference in the way that the air conditioning system works and it works a bit quicker than normal if you are using the recirculation button. It also uses less fuel. 

[Ootohere]

Air conditioning is not working below 2*oC.     Ahhh tropic weather moving in tomorrow.  The freezing south had a taste of what winters are.  300 postcode areas trigger £25 payments because of 7 days average Zero or below or forecast.     Tell someone in Aboyne about warmer in than out and the AC. 

[zetzet]

6 hours ago, toot said:

VW group will eventually get there.

That's the exact same as on VW group... 5 minutes is more than enough for it to all melt. 

[Jorgeminator]

3 hours ago, toot said:

Air conditioning is not working below 2*oC.     Ahhh tropic weather moving in tomorrow.  The freezing south had a taste of what winters are.  300 postcode areas trigger £25 payments because of 7 days average Zero or below or forecast.     Tell someone in Aboyne about warmer in than out and the AC. 

What is this gibberish, and what does it have to do with the heated windscreen?

 

On topic: I find that even in -10°C it only takes a couple of minutes for the heating to remove any frost or loosen thin snow enough that it can be wiped away.

[Ootohere]

The OP,s question is about a heated windscreen, they surely know starting the engine will do the job and the heated screen is not even required. 

[vfrguy]

Thanks for all the replies, the reason I paid for the option was the expectation that it would clear my screen more quickly than the heater/fan combination  (I work night shifts & the ability to get the screen clear/warm seats etc in the morning is very nice!) I too feel a little cheated as it does not appear to deliver that.

By way of comparison, I spoke with my brother today who has a MK3 Octavia & a 68 plate VW transporter, both with the 'wire element' type of heated front screen, which deliver a faster screen clearing time.

I was trying to get an idea of performance so I could speak about my disappointment to my dealer, armed with a little more knowledge/facts.

[Jorgeminator]

7 hours ago, toot said:

The OP,s question is about a heated windscreen, they surely know starting the engine will do the job and the heated screen is not even required. 

Do you live under a stone? If you had any real life experience, you'd know it takes a significant time starting the engine from cold until the coolant gets hot enough to start thawing your windscreen. I bet you have never seen colder than -10°c... 😂

Edited 18 December, 2022 by Jorgeminator

[Ootohere]

@JorgeminatorYou lose that bet.  Send your donation to any charity to help the rough sleepers out in the cold.

 

I used to stay and work outside of Braemar where it is colder than the weather station in Braemar which is right in town, & have had 50 winters of de-icing / defrosting cars & vans and all sorts, doing recoveries with 4x4's in winter and offroad and going to & working at ski centres and periods of freezing weather lasting days and weeks.

All cars needed defrosting with the engine started, and they used to be less iced inside than in recent years.

 

Now that i feel the cold in my joints and old broken bones i can just sit where i am inside and on my phone start the heating in my electric car and the ice will fall away in a couple of minutes,

and my 4x4 is ready to go with the green house heater keeping it dry inside and the ice off the glass when the weather is constantly below freezing.

Or i can just switch on the extension and start the fan if it has not been on all night.

(There is a thaw away to start today.)

 

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/489573-winter-roads-ice-snow-and-wet-or-dry-driving-in-an-ev/page/4

 

Edited 18 December, 2022 by toot

[Jorgeminator]

4 hours ago, toot said:

All cars needed defrosting with the engine started, and they used to be less iced inside than in recent years.

Then why are you so against the heated windscreen when it will do the job quicker than heat from the engine?

[Ootohere]

I am not against them. Where do you read that in my posts?  The older ones worked so so.  It is just after decades they have not improved.  As to what was said about staring and using recycle air and not outside intake, that is a location location location thing.   Very cold dry air acts totally different from when there is damp cold air, hoar frost etc.   Also as many in a Skoda find, ice inside the car not just outside.     Then there are different engines and heat to the heater, diesels, TSI and ones that let heat through quicker.  No point generalising on which cars do what and where.   Sometimes cracking the door windows open is required for when the ice clears outside and the front screen starts running wet inside. 

[J.R.]

I had Ford Sierra XR4x4's as company cars in the late nineties, they all had heated front screens which worked really quickly, faster even than the HRW's (remember all those acronyms on used car ads?).

 

In the time it took me to scrape the ice from the drivers and passenger windows the front screen would have de-iced and the rear 50%, enough for the rear wiper to remove the remainder, say a total of about 90 seconds, no misting on interior of front screen and a small amount on the rear which would clear in minutes.

 

I have not had vehicles so equipped since and really miss the feature, that performance is the minimum that I would expect today when vehicles have 140 amp plus alternators, I would be very dissapointed in having to wait 5 minutes and would be clearing the screen by hand.

[TheWanderer]

You can always use a zip lock sandwich bag filled with hot tap water and running it over the windscreen. 

[J.R.]

I used a 1 litre pyrex jug filled with water from the hot tap this morning.

 

The hot tap in the bathroom close to the hot water ballon because the one in the kitchen wastes loads of heated water heating the cold pipes before anything warm runs.

 

I have not cracked a screen in all these years but am more wary than ever now, my screen has a large chip and the glass is thinner than earlier vehicles, I only use warm or hot but never boiling water.

[Ootohere]

People tried the bag of water on their windscreen this week when it was shown on the telly one morning and discussed on the radio.  

There were mixed opinions.

 

The warm water is fine, until it is gathering in doors of a Skoda and not draining if say the passenger door is not opened.

Locks freeze, water freezes in doors, day after day when temps stay below freezing. 

You can get a lot of ice inside a door when day after day you pour warm water on the windows to deice them when the h20 does not drain out.

The air intakes freeze with water as it gathers maybe day after day. 

Snow not cleared and then water on the screen and ice formed and then you see the inside screen fogging up.

 

That is obviously a location location location thing and where temps might stay below freezing day and night as can even happen in parts of Scotland like in 2009/ 2010 and 2012. 

Snow came late October and stayed to Hogmany 2009. 

7 weeks that winter of Cold Weather payments triggered and a few weeks missed by 1 day. 

 

A little prep goes a long way. Door / Hatch rubbers, fuel filler flap prep, hinges, bonnet latch, cables, locks and other bits and pieces for an island nation like the UK where there can be all sorts of weather and micro climates between the south and north, east and west and islands. 

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/488545-winter-driving-observations

The same thing crops up winter after winter.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/490125-drivers-door-lock-issue-in-freezing-temeratures

 

 

Today there are areas where the temp is supposed to change by 22 degrees C as the warm front comes in. 

That happened in the Spring 2011 when there was a heat wave and over night after 2 weeks the temperature dropped, the snow fell and roads were blocked.

 

2013

http://bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21934213

 

 

Edited 18 December, 2022 by toot

[matrix2020]

I have to say the Skoda heated windscreen is not as good as Fords. My wife's Fiesta clears really quickly, but the wires in the screen are more obvious. The Octavia takes ages, actually sometimes I am not sure it actually clears it before the fan!! Its such a shame because having a decent heated windscreen is a real win.