Practically Classics Forum

Heated washer jets, and the washer pipe wrapped round a coolant hose a few times is so much easier.

I think if the heated jets and reservoir heater were connected,
then that might be better overall.

Also It would keep the cooling system and the washer system
separate. If done correctly a how too and were to buy the parts
would benifit many, as tis could be fitted o other vehicles.

There has been suggestions to this topic on various forums
about either having a pipe running through the washer
reservoir or running the washer pipe around the coolant system.
These would heat the screen wash liquid up to it's boiling point,
it would be heated even quicker if one suggestion of wrapping a
bit of copper brake pipe around the exhaust manifold had been
done.

The below quote best describes what would happen

homedistiller.org/theory wrote:When you have a mixture of liquids, each with its own boiling point
when pure, then the boiling point of the mix will lie somewhere in
the middle, and this will depend on the relative concentrations of
each liquid. Pure water boils at 100 deg C, and pure ethanol boils at
78. deg C, but a mixture of water and ethanol will boil at some
point in between.

So you boil off the alcohol in the screen wash leaving water so the
lower freezing temperature is lost, and you freeze the water in the
reservoir and the bottle splits.

Not mention that the vapour would need to escape from the pipe, if
the pipe is blocked upstream near the jets then either the pipe would
be split under the pressure or a come off a connection.

So If the electrical system to switch on and off the heater in the
reservoir could be limited, then the maximum temperature of the fluid
could be set.

A friend had an S reg Mondeo with a washer fluid heater, apparantly it was just a light bulb under the reservoir iirc.

a few years ago i mixed neat anti freeze with the fluid... naughty i know but it was couldnt see wipers & screen froze solid & had a long way to go... gave the car a good wash after though.

Hmm, wrapping the coil around the exhaust manifold might well be a solution for those of us whose cars have an engine at the front....

The Dolomite's washer reservoir is just above the back of the cylinder head in the n/s/r corner of the engine bay, the daily modern has only the coolant header tank, the brake fluid reservoir and the washer bottle itself up front, so there's no source of heat there to draw on. Just as well meths is cheap and freely available then. Or there's always the stuff I brew in the woods.

I could make the circuit even simpler by using a simple Bimetallic switch.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0376700911
Bimetallic disc thermostat which is normally closed.
- It's closed until the surface reaches about 45 degrees C, then the switch opens.
- Automatic reset

Something like that which is readily available in the UK to control the relay
for the heater plug in the side of the reservoir would be the simplest version.

jpsh - I don't want to be considered nosy but I'd really be interested in knowing why your profile pic is my brother-in-law's ex-brother-in-law's late brother?