There are many people who believe that cold air on windows causes them to break. There are many people who swear they’ve seen it happen, and there are several disgruntled car owners who have had to get their car windows or windshield replaced, in occasions where the outside temperatures plummets. This is actually very common, especially in states where there is typically a harsh winter.
If you live in such a state and you’re worried your windows will break from exposure to cold air….well, you should know in a way that is actually a misapprehension; it’s not exactly cold air – or even heavy snow – that makes glass windows break. More accurately, it’s not the cold air in itself that brings about this unpleasant effect. Rather, it’s the sudden heating of a glass which had just been previously subject to low temperatures, that will quite easily break it.
Do you understand the difference? Imagine getting out of a hot sauna and immediately dipping into ice-cold snow. A sudden drop in temperature can cause glass to shatter just like your nerves would begin to make you shake. There’s nothing wrong with letting snow build up on your car windshield… you can be certain that won’t shatter the glass on its own. However, if you were to throw a single glass of warm water in a frozen windshield, the glass could shatter to pieces, almost instantly. This may not sound like something most people would do… but in fact, most of the situations where a snowstorm supposedly breaks a window are actually brought about by the very owner, as he rushes to cleaning the windshield by resorting to a bucket of warm water.
As you can see, keeping your windows from breaking in cold weather is simple enough. You just need to make sure the glass isn’t subject to an abrupt chance in temperature. So next time you come out to find your windshield frozen, don’t rush into cleaning it; instead, make sure you allow it to gradually defrost, even if you have to wait some time before driving. After all, it’s better to patiently scrape the cool ice or snow off than being subject to expenses that could have been altogether avoided, wouldn’t you agree? Remember, always be careful to avoid drastic changes of temperature in glass materials… whether it’s a windshield, a house window or a plain drinking glass, the same principle applies.
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