| Tina Turner may have had a point, some activities that | | | | direction, and the speed, of the air flow. When used in |
| take place in your car, may result in naturally occurring | | | | combination they can either alleviate the problem of |
| fogging. This will indeed add to one's privacy, although | | | | misted windows or create it! |
| choice of location is also crucial as I suspect Gillian | | | | Beware the Re-circulate air control! |
| Taylforth would, with hindsight, testify. | | | | At our auto reconditioning business, we find that |
| However, many of us are more often engaged in | | | | customers who complain of fogging problems in their |
| more prosaic pursuits that result in steamed up car | | | | cars are often in the habit of leaving the "re-circulate |
| windows; just this morning I drove home with two very | | | | air" control turned on. When on, this control prevents |
| wet and panting dogs after a wonderful walk in wet | | | | unpleasant air coming in from the outside like; diesel |
| woodlands. Additionally there has been; bringing the | | | | fumes, bonfire smoke, or burger van aromas, which is |
| children home form swimming on rainy Saturday | | | | of course a good thing, but if you have it on all the |
| mornings, lugging several bags of wet washing to the | | | | time, especially when the interior air is already moist, |
| launderette after the washing machine had broken | | | | then all you are doing is re-circulating the same damp |
| down, and driving home from Snowdonia with a | | | | air. This will of course get progressively worse as you |
| dripping tent after packing it up in the rain, exacerbated | | | | puff and pant whilst stretching across to scrub the |
| by the wet sleeping bag that my daughter had thrown | | | | window with a bit of grubby Kleenex, so keep it turned |
| up on the night before. I expect that police officers on | | | | off as default. |
| a stake-out in an unmarked car, in January, with a flask | | | | Use your car's air conditioning effectively. |
| of tea may also experience difficulties but as | | | | This whole scenario is exacerbated if you are running |
| advanced drivers they will of course know the solution. | | | | your air conditioning, in combination with the re-circulate |
| So how do we "standard drivers" deal with the | | | | air control. This will cause even faster fogging of your |
| problem? | | | | windows. Air conditioning systems use a refrigeration |
| The basic principle is that you need to replace the | | | | process like a domestic fridge, and just as a fridge |
| moist air in the car with dry air, and direct that dry air | | | | condenses water as a part of the cooling process and |
| (either warm or cold) onto the windscreen. The faster | | | | dribbles it onto your kitchen floor, so your air |
| the air flow the quicker the de-mist. | | | | conditioning produces water that can evaporate again |
| Where does the moisture come from? | | | | into the cabin air of your car. This is prevented if you |
| Moist air comes from various sources, wet things like; | | | | draw fresh air into your car, in other words turn |
| washing, tents and hair; breathing things like people and | | | | "re-circulate air" off, whilst running your air con. |
| dogs; and condensing things like cold car windows and | | | | We actually recommend that you do run your air |
| your air conditioning system. Dealing with these | | | | conditioning periodically all year round, as it will keep the |
| situations calls for the appropriate use of the car's | | | | system in good order and slow down the build up of |
| interior temperature controls. | | | | bacteria which causes odour. |
| The age and specification of your car will dictate | | | | One last tip... clean windows demist far quicker than |
| which controls you have available to tackle misted | | | | dirty windows, so why not take advantage of the |
| windows. Most drivers are familiar with the heated | | | | moisture on them next time they are steamed up and |
| rear window control, and how it works, however, | | | | give them a wipe with a good quality microfibre cloth. I |
| dealing with de-misting in the front can be confusing. | | | | recommend keeping one in the car as they are useful |
| There are usually several dials, sliders or buttons | | | | for all sorts of things. |
| associated with the control of; the temperature, the | | | | |