General ice inside car

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General ice inside car

romfordtony

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Hi i am having problems with icing on the inside of the windscreen on my 1.2 dynamic a/c When i start the car first thing there is quite a thick film of ice on the inside of the screen.Ihave tried making some ventilation adjustments like the recirculation dial and aircon on and off when in use but with no luck.I would like to know if this is a common problem and if there is any remedy :confused:
 
My 1.2 Eco Dynamic has the same problem. Annoying, isn't it? Am taking my Fiat Idea to dealer tomorrow for a low mileage service, so will ask the necessary questions and pass on any info. Spotted a neat feature on Panda re wipers - they go from continuous to intermittent when you stop atfor example, traffic lights, and resume when you pull away. Should have seen that earlier, as have had the car since August, but as her indoors frequently points out, I'm not very observant!
 
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The ice thing is indeed very annoying.I havent noticed that with the wipers and ive owned mine for a year!I like the rear wiper that goes on in reverse gear thats something that my Zafira doesnt do
 
Sounds obvious but you shouldn't be getting ice on the inside unless it's wet in there. Have you had damp clothes left in there recently? Got hot and sweaty at the gym then driven home? Got an open bottle of water in the car? All these will cause the condensation to freeze on the inside of the screen.

If none of the above apply, have you had a replacement windscreen fitted recently? A lot of these national firms aren't as good as they crack themselves up to be.

Other than that, if other cars of them same model are doing it there might be a design fault somewhere. Are the scuttle drain holes blocked for example?

The only other suggestion is have you had any third party electrics fitted? I only ask because we had a customer with a Seat Ibiza in with serious water ingress which was finally traced back to an audio install. The power fead through the bulkhead to the battery and been pinched under the scuttle panel so all the water trying to get to the drain holes at either end went down the power lead, dropped into the air intake of the heater blower and straight in to the passenger footwell.

Hope some of the above help - just thinkning out loud!

Ben
 
Today the Fiat technician servicing my Idea suggested much the same as BenP re drainage / scuttle blockages, so asked for car to be left at dealership overnight to check whats going on. At least he didn't say "they're all like that mate"!
 
Thanks for advice...I do keep a chamois type sponge in car to wipe off condensation so this might be the problem..There has been loads of rain lately but carpets are dry.. no leaks....I bought car last Feburary and there wasnt an icing problem then so there may be leaves blocking vents etc.Panda covered in snow at moment so i think i will investigate further at another time!(y)
 
If you are getting condensation, then there is obviously some moisture in the air in the car. Wiping it off the windscreen will help you see out in the short term but any moisture will just re-condense on cold surfaces again.

It will be difficult to dry the interior completely at this time of the year. So if you can't sort the root cause, try parking somewhere sheltered like under a tree or in the shadow of a tall building where ice is less likely to form.
 
Here's what's happening - it's not a 'fault', it's physics. (note the OP's car has air con)

When air conditioning operates, even in this colder weather, it reduces the amount of water vapour that can remain in the air (air con cools the incoming air to a low temperature, dehumidifying it in the process, and then rewarms it to the required temperature -- a process called 'conditioning', hence the name). As the incoming air is cooled (even in winter), that water vapour condenses into water droplets on the chiller unit (a cold radiator inside the heating/ventilating unit inside the car). Eventually, when enough condensate forms and the condensation 'beads' are big enough, they drop from the chiller into the bottom of the plastic heater unit casing and flow to a drain tube that lets it out under the car. (With air con in buildings, the same condensate forms - look under a wall-mounted air con unit in a restaurant for example and you can see the white plastic pipe used to drain this away outside. Larger building systems collect the condensate and pump it out using pipes above the ceiling)

When you stop the car and leave it parked, there is still dampness left on that chiller unit (like there's still condensation on your empty beer or Coke glass after you finish the drink)

What you are seeing is that residual water inside the chiller/heater unit evaporating back into the air inside the car, helped by the left over heat in the heater matrix (which is hot even if the controls are set to 'cold'), and then condensing on the windscreen - in winter it happens while the car is parked, but it can do this in summer too, often steaming up the car when you start up.

The cure is to turn the air con off (or, with climate control, selecting 'eco' [or the snowflake sysmbol] which stops the chiller from operating) for the last few miles / 15 minutes of your journey, and to be sure the blower fan is on. During this time the last water can drain away or evaporate into the air being blown through the car (and be displaced by more air as you continue to drive) before you reach home, and all will stay clear for the morning. It is important to note that you must not have the system on recirculate at this time as you need to be letting out that 'damp' air and replacing it with 'dry' air as you drive those last few miles.

If you only drive short journeys, in winter, after demisting is done, select 'eco' as soon as you can otherwise you won't give enough time to dry the system out.

With the manual air con system (with control knobs, not push buttons), setting the air flow control to the 'floor' setting when parking can help too, because the condensation-laden air cannot (so easily) rise to the screen. (Even without the fan running, natural convection will move air through the system and into the car)

In passing, it's leaving the system 'damp' that leads to the horrible smells you can get from car air con systems. Turning the chiller off for the last part of the journey (as above) will help prevent this.

End of physics lesson

Pete
 
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Here's what's happening - it's not a 'fault', it's physics. (note the OP's car has air con)

When air conditioning operates, even in this colder weather, it reduces the amount of water vapour that can remain in the air (air con cools the incoming air to a low temperature, dehumidifying it in the process, and then rewarms it to the required temperature -- a process called 'conditioning', hence the name). As the incoming air is cooled (even in winter), that water vapour condenses into water droplets on the chiller unit (a cold radiator inside the heating/ventilating unit inside the car). Eventually, when enough condensate forms and the condensation 'beads' are big enough, they drop from the chiller into the bottom of the plastic heater unit casing and flow to a drain tube that lets it out under the car. (With air con in buildings, the same condensate forms - look under a wall-mounted air con unit in a restaurant for example and you can see the white plastic pipe used to drain this away outside. Larger building systems collect the condensate and pump it out using pipes above the ceiling)

When you stop the car and leave it parked, there is still dampness left on that chiller unit (like there's still condensation on your empty beer or Coke glass after you finish the drink)

What you are seeing is that residual water inside the chiller/heater unit evaporating back into the air inside the car, helped by the left over heat in the heater matrix (which is hot even if the controls are set to 'cold'), and then condensing on the windscreen - in winter it happens while the car is parked, but it can do this in summer too, often steaming up the car when you start up.

The cure is to turn the air con off (or, with climate control, selecting 'eco' [or the snowflake sysmbol] which stops the chiller from operating) for the last few miles / 15 minutes of your journey, and to be sure the blower fan is on. During this time the last water can drain away or evaporate into the air being blown through the car (and be displaced by more air as you continue to drive) before you reach home, and all will stay clear for the morning. It is important to note that you must not have the system on recirculate at this time as you need to be letting out that 'damp' air and replacing it with 'dry' air as you drive those last few miles.

If you only drive short journeys, in winter, after demisting is done, select 'eco' as soon as you can otherwise you won't give enough time to dry the system out.

With the manual air con system (with control knobs, not push buttons), setting the air flow control to the 'floor' setting when parking can help too, because the condensation-laden air cannot (so easily) rise to the screen. (Even without the fan running, natural convection will move air through the system and into the car)

In passing, it's leaving the system 'damp' that leads to the horrible smells you can get from car air con systems. Turning the chiller off for the last part of the journey (as above) will help prevent this.

End of physics lesson

Pete

So how comes the same doesn't happen on my Stilo then? A/C is constantly on. Never had ice on th inside of the screen.
 
Doesn't happen to me either. Climate control set to "Auto" after initial defrost.
 
Maybe its just me then? But Multipla does it, previous Vauxhall did and Mazda before that. It could I suppose have something to do wit not changing the aircon filter too often... or where I park?

Oh well, it made for a long post to give you something to read! (esp. when MEP repeats it in its entirety rather than editing the 'quote' text..)

Pete
 
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This has happenned to me a lot these past few weeks -I thought it was just my breath condensing on the cold windscreen once the heater had been turned off. I can't see it is anything to do with the aircon as I haven't turned it on in months. Its only a very thin layer, but the usual ice scraper doesn't remove much as the concave surface prevents the scraper form touching other than at the edages. Do they make a curved of flexible ice scraper? I'm going to look for one tomorrow.
 
I'm experiencing this phenomenon at the moment too...

Brand new vehicle...wet snowy mats (gave them a shake outside), no doubt contributing to the moisture content of the interior air and resulting in ice on the inside of the screen.

I have been switching the aircon off for the last few miles of a journey but it isn't helping.

It is bitterly cold at the moment as we all appreciate AND I park on a north facing drive which doesn't get any direct sun.

There were actually a few drops on the drivers door inside trim near the handle which had frozen :cool:
 
On or off?

Won't work in this temp anyways. (n)

The theory is that the dry air helps with demisting and keeps the inside of the car dryer, but the condensation on the unit itself is finding its way into the car, hence switching it off for the last few miles- to dry itself out?!?...so yes I have the aircon on and the heat turned up :)
 
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The theory is that the dry air helps with demisting and keeps the inside of the car dryer, but the condensation on the unit itself is finding its way into the car, hence switching it off for the last few miles- to dry itself out?!?...so yes I have the aircon on and the heat turned up :)

So do I normally, but A) condensation normally drips away outside and B) even if the light is on your A/C won't be operating in the temps the UK has currently got ;)

Will auto switch off between 1.5/3C outside to stop the system from distroying itself.
 
The theory is that the dry air helps with demisting and keeps the inside of the car dryer, but the condensation on the unit itself is finding its way into the car, hence going the last few miles with it off to dry itself out(?)...so yes I have the aircon on and the heater turned up :)

I know the theory as I always have the AC on in my Stilo for the same reason :p (y)

But at external temps below about 3C AC system is automatically turned off.
 
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