Drivers urged to put bowl of salt in their car | Tech News

One extremely easy and low-cost trick is not going to solely prevent from potential fines and factors  in your license, however may even stop you from spending further money on costly car dehumidifiers. It may additionally help you to keep away from the cumbersome routine of having to use your car’s heating system to sort out the issue each morning.

Whether it is the college run or making it into to work, not solely do fogged-up home windows throw a time-consuming spanner in the works. Now, motoring specialists are advising drivers to merely go away a bowl of salt in a single day to remedy the difficulty as soon as and for all. The tip is being shared simply in time as mercury is set to fall early morning on Friday, with lows of 1C in some elements of the nation, together with Scotland.

While emphasising that driving with foggy home windows just isn’t solely a security hazard and will probably violate the Highway Code, the car leasing specialists at LeaseLoco.com say that merely leaving a small bowl of salt in a single day “is a clever way to help with this problem.

The salt essentially “absorbs any extra moisture in the air that’s making the issue worse”.

However, they do warn that while condensation in cars can be normal in cold weather, if it persists when temperatures warm up, this could actually be a sign of other problems, such as leaky seals.

Regardless, the pretty common issue can cause some serious consequences.

Essentially, as temperatures drop and windows get colder, warm, humid air from inside the car combines with the cold exterior, making the problem often unavoidable. Even leaving wet clothes and umbrellas in the car can contribute to the problem, but table salt, with its hygroscopic properties, acts as a cheap and natural dehumidifier.

The legal lowdown is that drivers who don’t clear their windows of condensation risk breaking the Highway Code. The rules state that “you MUST find a way to see”. Apart from ensuring that all lights are clean and number plates are visible, mirrors must be clear, and windows must be thoroughly demisted.

Luckily, the positively charged sodium ions in salt are great at binding to the negatively charged oxygen in water molecules, which is why you’ll often see salt clumping up in humid weather.

Natalie Wood, who tried and tested her own DIY version of the salt trick, shared in a Facebook Car Camping group that she fully prefers this “sensible and cost-effective answer as a substitute of preserving the engine operating simply to clear the fog”.

Finding it simple, efficient, and eco-friendly, she wrote, “Thanks to the one who shared this intelligent tip! With simply 1 kilogram of coarse salt positioned inside a cotton bag, I’ve fully solved the issue of windshield condensation during winter. The coarse salt naturally absorbs moisture from the air, stopping fog from forming inside the car.”

To keep away from any risk of dashboard corrosion, place the cotton bag on an aluminium plate or a plastic help. This protects your car’s inside, particularly in case the bag will get by chance moist.

Others have even tried utilizing cat litter in outdated socks and stockings or reusable silica car dehumidifier luggage.