Clean windows: do-it-yourself washer reservoir heating system

The peculiarities of the winter period of operation force motorists to take a number of measures aimed at ensuring trouble-free functioning of mechanisms and comfortable travel conditions. This includes organizing seat heating , ensuring optimal fuel fluidity , and preventing locks from freezing. Experienced motorists do not forget to ensure good visibility in adverse weather conditions.

Why is a car washer reservoir heating system needed?

Car owners are not always able to purchase high-quality antifreeze fluid. A diluted substance can lose its qualities already at a few degrees below zero. However, even branded products begin to thicken at -20°C. The consequences of this fact may be as follows:

drop in fluid pressure from the jets;
increased washer consumption;
poor windshield cleaning.

Another reason to organize heating of the washer reservoir with your own hands is to better wash the windshield with warm liquid. When driving on country roads, where dirt flies from under the wheels of cars in front very intensively, this option will not hurt.

And in addition

It is very important to ensure that during severe frosts the liquid supplied to the glass from the nozzles is not too hot. The temperature difference between the washer fluid and the windshield can damage the latter. Cracks may occur. Therefore, at 25–30 degree frosts, the heating system should be used with caution.

In severe frosts, even with a heating system for the tank, it is better to use a concentrated anti-freeze agent. It will help prevent liquid from freezing on the surface of your car's windshield and your windshield wipers from freezing.

What methods can be used to heat the washer fluid?

It goes without saying that for owners of a Mercedes Benz GLS or other modern foreign cars, such a question is irrelevant. Other motorists are forced to take care of the cleanliness of the windshield on their own in unfavorable conditions. A homemade washer reservoir heating system can be implemented in two ways:

Using electric heating.
Using an internal combustion engine cooling system.

When choosing a method, you should take into account the availability of materials and the ease of manufacturing the unit under specific conditions. It would be useful to additionally insulate the tubes and heat the jets.

Principle of operation

Injectors require a constant source of heat to operate properly at low temperatures. Some vehicles are equipped with a heated windshield washer system, but most vehicles still use conventional jets.

Machines without additional equipment have an excellent source of heat - the engine. With its help, you can provide the nozzles with hot air and prevent the liquid from freezing. All you need to do is bring it to the injectors. It is worth noting that this method is only suitable for those cars whose jets are installed directly on the hood.

How to make your own heating of a car washer reservoir from the cooling system?

Despite the possibility of purchasing a factory-made Geyser-type device at a car dealership, many car owners decide to make such a device themselves. They justify their decision by saying that it is more reliable and cheaper. To work you will need:

copper tube 500 mm and 0.8 mm ;
4 clamps for fixation;
reinforced steam removal hose for connecting the device to the SOD.

You can use a regular fuel tube as a tube, but after two months of operation it will corrode and will have to be replaced. Therefore, it is better to take copper. You also need to take into account the location of the homemade device so that the tubes do not interfere with the liquid level sensor and pump.

The method for manufacturing a heating device is not particularly difficult and consists of several points:

Give the tube the desired shape, it can have a spiral (using a tube) or a U-shaped configuration. To ensure reliable fastening of the hoses, wrap copper wire around the ends of the tubes and solder them.
Make holes in the top of the body or in the cover for the tubes to exit. You can use a soldering iron for this.
Install the heating element and seal the holes with sealant.
Connect the heating of the car washer reservoir with your own hands to the cooling system using steam pipes.

The last point is of particular interest to car enthusiasts. Connecting the device is possible in two ways:

to heating the throttle assembly;
to the return line (return) of the stove.

The above connection method obliges the owner to comply with certain operating rules. When the ambient temperature is below -20°C, it is not recommended to use the washer due to the difference in temperature between the liquid and the windshield. Otherwise, everything may end in glass cracking.

To illustrate the installation process, a video of the installation of the Geyser system is suitable.

Some nuances of the method of connecting to the SOD

If you carefully study the reviews of car owners, you can find a lot of negative reviews about the method of connecting heated glass cleaning fluid to the cooling system. This is due to excessive and uncontrolled heating of the antifreeze, as a result of which the alcohol component of the solution evaporates and water remains in the container, which freezes when parked in winter.

In this case, experienced car enthusiasts recommend connecting the system to the gap in the expansion tank and the radiator steam outlet. the thermostat 21082 is used , which has six pipes.

In this case, the expansion tank is included in a small circle of the cooling system and antifreeze enters it even at low engine speeds. The stock SOD with a standard thermostat ensures that antifreeze enters the expander only when the large circle is fully open. This way, the car washer reservoir heating system will operate in the optimal temperature range.

New injectors

If old sprayers do not want to work properly in winter, then it’s time to send them to the landfill. Or sell it as used spare parts.

In any case, when the washer keeps causing you problems, it needs to be replaced.

An excellent solution would be universal heated nozzles. These items fit a variety of vehicle makes and models. The assortment is impressive, that is, there should definitely not be any problems with selecting one specifically for your vehicle. The only problem is that the old system has to be dismantled and a new one installed in its place. Most kits provide detailed installation instructions. If you follow the rules and observe safety precautions, you won’t have to wait long for results.

The issue may be cost. Still, it is more expensive than buying a thermistor.

But the operating efficiency of nozzles equipped with heating is much higher. It is safer and more aesthetically pleasing. Moreover, new jets may have an attractive design that compares favorably with previous products.

It's up to you to decide anyway.

How to make electric heating of the windshield washer reservoir?

This option is much simpler in terms of execution than the method described above. There is no need to make any special design changes, except perhaps install a control button and a fuse in the cabin.

You will need an electric element of the type that is used to heat seats. Its installation is carried out outside the tank with special tape, after which the wiring is laid and the working circuit is assembled. A solution with a heating element for exterior mirrors can be called elegant.

The voltage is supplied by a switch, the circuit of which necessarily includes a relay. Another connection option is to use the rear window heating button. This circuit must have a fuse to prevent short circuits.

Recommendations

Comments 4

Hmmm... Let me start with the fact that the heating on the injectors is not constantly on. It all depends on the configuration, options and settings. For example, on my car it turns on along with the heated glass. Further, initially the nozzle contains not a “heating element”, but a banal thermistor. This has been discussed several times both here and at ffclub. They even found analogues, in every store there are tons of radio parts and they cost pennies. Thermistor resistance directly depends on temperature: the higher the temperature, the higher the resistance. Thus, when a certain temperature is reached, the thermistor simply stops passing current, unlike conventional resistance. So a circuit with resistance is inherently dangerous (short circuit, melted wiring, fire), while a circuit with a thermistor is safe. You can choose any suitable 12V thermistor with a temperature of 50 degrees.

The injector heating ALWAYS works, at least in Rusfocus. There is even a clipping from Murzilka... you can find it on the same ffclub. If it works with a button, then something has already been done with it. Regarding the thermistor, I agree that it is safer, but only from the point of view that it does not always fry to the fullest, nothing should happen to the resistor that I installed, in the worst case, it will simply fail. everything is insulated there well, after all, there is a fuse for heating, I think if the resistor blows, then it will die the death of the brave))) And it doesn’t heat up that much, without the case I just tested it for 10-15 minutes, all this time I could easily put my hand on it, it was warm. As a temporary solution, it is quite an effective method, although not temporary, too, many people have done it based on reviews from the forum...

To be honest, I was surprised, I didn’t know that the heating works all the time, but regarding the replacement, not so long ago someone had a blog entry about the fact that they had remodeled and installed heating from the Volga.

Exactly all the time, that’s what the engineers were thinking, it’s not clear.

Source: www.drive2.com

conclusions

Good visibility for the driver is important at any time of the year, but this is especially true in winter conditions. Many people are capable of heating the windshield washer reservoir with their own hands. For the operation of the device, two options are used: the engine cooling system or electrical elements.

The option of connecting to the SOD is quite labor-intensive and requires certain skills. Things are somewhat simpler with the implementation of electric heating. Excellent results are demonstrated by an integrated approach to the problem, including insulation of supply tubes and arrangement of heating of nozzles.

Using a thermistor

One of the most common homemade methods is to organize heating with a thermistor.

I can’t say what specific device characteristics are needed for a particular car.

But the point of using the device is as follows:

you need to take a thermistor;
cut off everything unnecessary from there;
put heat shrink tubes on the wires;
solder the wires to the thermistor;
warm up the heat shrink;
pour sealant onto the area where the thermoelement will be;
carefully insert the thermistor there;
add sealant as needed;
wait until the sealant hardens completely.

Motorists note that with such re-equipment, good results can be achieved.

But the method is also recognized as an outright collective farm. A budget option, potentially effective. But it can hardly be called simple. Some people are simply afraid to make such modifications to the glass washer system. And I will understand them in many ways.

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