Condensation On Inside Of Windows

[dash]

Our Aygo was dreadful in winter. It would either have condensation streaming down the inside of the windscreen in damp conditions or else it would be frozen on the inside in winter weather

We have had our iQ since August, so have yet to see how it behaves in damp/cold conditions

With the windscreen being so far forwards relative to the driving seat it will be a pain to reach it to wipe condensation away if this is also a problem on the iQ

What experiences have other owners had when recalling the cold weather last winter?

Thanks

Dave

[barrycoll]

In my experience, condensation only occurs on the inside of windscreen, backscreen etc, if there is moisture in the car, which means there is ingress from somewhere...finding it is the problem

the IQ has no sunroof and only 2 opening windows, so there is less chance of problems, but mild misting of innner windows is cleared promptly by using the A/C, winter or summer.......it basically gets rid of humidity (as well as keeping the AC operating well)

if you are worried, check under the carpets front and rear for damp

cheers barryc

[tarquin]

I'm with Barry on that, I used to run the Peugeot with the air con on all the time. Mainly because I don't like breathing moist air. I expect its years of working in air con. If I used to turn it off in the Peugeot it would mist up and and within a few seconds of it being on, its all gone.

In the iQ again I keep the humidity very low with the air as if I were on a mountain and no condensation.

David

[s44gtw]

I agree with the above.

(be aware that the A/C sometimes causes a Blue Bloom on the windsreen after a few weeks and needs well cleaned after a few weeks or this can cause vision problems,

doesnt seem too bad on a iQ)

The iQ is a vey good UK/Scottish winter car for lack of condensation & quick defrosting IME.

To help thing more in extreme weather.

Take out wet/damp mats at night & take into the house to dry.

(dont leave damp gloves, hats etc)

Use the likes of FogX or RainX 'Clear glass' on the inside glass before cold weather comes.

Spray rubber door seals/rubber with Silicon Spray or 'Halfords night before de-icer' before ice sets in.

This discourages doors from freezing shut.

'Night before deicer' sprayed when parking up can be good on the outside glass, but can leave grease on the windsreen if you do not have the layer of ice to sweep off in the morning. (ie it has not frozen that night)

Look out for 3 for the price of 2.

I have used it for years now & would not be without.

If you can not get 'Caravan/motorhome silicon damp packs' like the satchets you get in new electrical boxes but bigger,

then a yogurt carton with some rock salt covered in cling film with a few holes is good to absorbing moisture in vehicles, change it masybe once in a winter.

Dont carry too much metal tools, cans, metal fire extinguishers etc that encourages additional cold then condensation between day and night time temp changes..

Not so important in a iQ. lol

Have fun it was -4 here this morning.

Last year never went above 0 celcius for 5 weeks.

george

PS keep your fuel tank as full as possible to discourage condensation/moisture in your tank.

Scotland is now on Winter octane petrol dont know if South is yet.

Better fuel economy on it IME.

[Kip]

Compared to my previous car, a 2008 Mazda 2 which also had A/C, there is less problem with condensation with the iQ. I've just recently bought one of these cheap microfibre cloth/sponge type things and they are really good at wiping away condensation and I highly recommend them. Just remember to take it out of the car overnight to let it dry properly. If it dries in the car then the water you wiped away will return to the air and then of course the window. As for freezing on the inside of windscreens, again, had very little trouble last year with the iQ but the Mazda 2 seemed to freeze up on the inside quite easily.

As far as driving goes, just make sure sure you have decent amount of tread on the tyres or even fit winter tyres with at least 3-4mm of tread left. I drove through some pretty stubborn snow last year on normal newish tyres and it coped really well. Anyway, that is going off topic...

Just keep moisture levels down with a good microfibre cloth and by running the A/C as others have suggested. Low moisture in the air of the car will reduce condensation and the chance of the inside freezing.

I like the 'rock salt in a pot' idea, might give it a go this year.

[dash]

Thanks for your comments. Hoping iQ turns out to be a lot better than Aygo.

PS doesn't the aircon automatically switch off if outside temp is lower thn 5deg C?

Dave

[Jan&tone]

I would disagree with all you guys. Sorry.

IMO the root cause of condensation in cars, especially small cars, is simply us! People, humans, you and me!

We breathe. We leave a warm house with our warm damp breath and get into a cold car. We sit less than 3 feet from a cold, possibly frozen, windscreen and exhale our warm damp breath onto it. Of course it condenses, and freezes if it's cold enough!

Look at your breath while you are walking in cold weather, you can see it condensing in the cold air.

If you only do short journeys in these conditions, the condensarion that youmand your passengers have caused stays in the car and will get worse as the winter goes on.

Bear in mind that also you may be wearing wet clothes, there may be more than just you in the car...

In Warm wet weather the opposite happens, your breath, although warm and damp, is colder than the warm damp windows in your car and you get condensarion.

The only way to get rid is to use the aircon ALL the time, and have the airflow from outside the car, not on recirculation.

[s44gtw]

For 11 years when not in a car or Land Rover i spend every winter day in a Suzuki Jimny at ski centres and such.

In and out with wet and cold clothes mostly.

No Air Con,

just a great heater & wind deflectors to let some air flow when needed to stop steaming up.

Never needed to scrape ice from inside glass ever.

I do park up and put a Greenhouse heater inside at night with the windows down 1/2 an inch, even when there is a blizzard outside.

Heater set at above freezing & you dont even need to clear the outside glass in the morning.

2kw Greenhouse fan heater from the likes of B&Q for £20 and a Outside safety breaker extension cable, wind deflectors on the car to let you get the cable in.

Toasty car every morning.

You do breath and cause condensation obviously but look at how much water you get in your vehicle from wet or snowy boots during the winter.

george

[johnan]

I use an engine pre-heater (immersion heater in the cooling system) in my MG Midget which gets the coolant up to running temperature before starting the engine and therefor the heater works straight away too, for demisting etc.

I put it on about 20mins before starting the engine.

I believe they are quite common in Scandinavia, as you would expect, and the way Scottish winters are going they may become common here too!

I wouldn't like to plumb one of these into an IQ though, far too many coolant pipes to sort out.The Midget is very basic in comparison and easy to work on.

[dash]

Does anyone know whether the iQ aircon disables itself at temps lower than 5degC?

My VW Golf did to protect the aircon system against damage at low temps.

Dave

[Guest]

Good to read something about this subject as it has begun to get rather cold. Last year of course, in that crappy cold weather, it was bad for anyone. Unfortunately for us we had to move house in it. Lots of journey's, 24 mile round trips, from old to new house in our front wheel drive Mondeo. It was great inside as it had a heated windscreen but the air-con struggled sometimes -even though it had been re-gassed a few months before. Funny thing is I can recall reading that the air-con had to be run on recirculation and not from outside air. Maybe that was part of the problem. Driving in those bad conditions however was pretty worrying, carrying a car load of breakables and so on.

This year, I feel a lot more prepared for the bad weather and appreciate everyone's tips on keeping the windows clear. I particularly liked the idea of the silicon packs, keeping the fuel tank full makes sense too. The rocksalt in a pot is a great idea if you can't get hold of any of those little silicon packs. I believe you can buy the packs. I was just checking on Google, but for some reason, possibly Pish poor connection, it won't show anything on the subject but Silicon Valley, and then the screen whites over so I can't access anything. Talk Talk Crap Crap. By the way, you can buy a pack of -sure it's silicon- white granules that soak up condensation to put in damp areas. We had to have one under our sink last winter as the condensation on the pipes provided a surprising amount of water. We thought we had a leak it was that bad. You can get these things from DIY stores and good outlets... so they always say. We binned our last one and it was full of water, and this was during the summer. One of those in the car might work too.

Here's hoping we all have a safe winter.

[tonyishuk]

If you have use of an electrical point, a Kenlow preheater will pay dividends

http://www.kenlowe.com/pre-heaters/cars/whatwill.html

I fitted one to our Discovery and it had warm toasty feet from the word go. (and a clear widscreen shortly afterwards !)

Rgds

[johnan]

If you have use of an electrical point, a Kenlow preheater will pay dividends

http://www.kenlowe.com/pre-heaters/cars/whatwill.html

I fitted one to our Discovery and it had warm toasty feet from the word go. (and a clear widscreen shortly afterwards !)

Rgds

Yes, that is the make I have.

I had one fitted to a Jeep for about 20 years and I am sure it prevented premature engine wear apart from making the cabin warm.

The model I have in my Midget is much more sophisticated and works much more effectively than the older type, but maybe it is specially designed for MGs.

Expensive, but if you intend to keep your car for a while and like a warm start they are great.

[Guest]

Just got this -see link below- from GIZMAG. Interesting, No?

http://www.gizmag.com/car-interior-preheater/20575/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=215c3c7703-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email

[s44gtw]

Angels farts would be more useful! IMHO

george