Can I Pour Hot Water On My Driveway To Melt Ice?

The average homeowner is often looking for simple ways to melt the ice on their driveway. That includes using hot water, but can be somewhat controversial among homeowners in cold climates. So, can I pour hot water on my driveway to melt ice?

You can pour hot water on your driveway to melt ice, but it doesn’t work well on its own. That’s because the ice will melt, then the water will freeze again and become slushy. You’re better off mixing warm water with white vinegar, rubbing alcohol, or dish soap to melt the ice on your driveway.

For the best results, mix equal parts warm water and rubbing alcohol, then add a tablespoon of dish soap. This lets you penetrate the ice, melt it, and stop it from freezing again. Follow along as we explore everything you must know about melting the ice in your driveway.

Can You Use Hot Water To Melt Ice On Your Driveway?

While you can use hot water to melt ice on your driveway, it’s a temporary fix. After all, you’d be using water to melt ice, which is frozen water, which will then turn back into liquid water. Naturally, this water can quickly freeze and turn back into ice.

In some cases, the new layer of ice may be even worse and slushier, which creates a serious tripping hazard. Using boiling water is an especially bad idea, as it can damage your driveway and create thick cracks. That’s because thermal shock can occur, much like when you put a glass of hot water in the freezer.

However, you can somewhat safely pour warm water on your driveway to melt ice if you follow a few steps, including:

1. Mix Warm Water With Dish Soap

Let hot water cool down before you go anywhere near your car. Don’t let it get cold, but you should at least wait to do anything with it until it’s warm and not scalding. Next, mix roughly one tablespoon of mild dish soap with the warm water in a bucket, that you can pour on the ice on your driveway.

Dish soap is quite useful, as it can reduce the surface tension, which will make the warm water more effective. This lets you maximize the warm water’s usefulness, but you can’t rely on this mixture as an ironclad solution. For example, the melted ice can easily refreeze if you don’t do anything else, especially when de-icing a car.

2. Mix it With Rubbing Alcohol

As useful as dish soap is, it doesn’t compare to how effective rubbing alcohol is at melting ice. That’s because, like salt, rubbing alcohol can reduce water’s freezing point. Pairing rubbing alcohol with warm water ensures you can melt the ice and that the water won’t turn back into ice.

If your driveway is covered in ice, it’s a good idea to create a mixture that is 60% rubbing alcohol to 40% warm water. Otherwise, you should use a 50/50 mixture of warm water and rubbing alcohol. That said, you can sweeten the pot by adding one tablespoon of mild dish soap to the mixture.

This lets you penetrate the ice as deeply as possible, so the alcohol and water will be more effective.

3. Add Some Salt

Salt is the classic de-icing method that countless homeowners use throughout winter. However, salt isn’t always an immediate fix, so some people mix it with warm water. The idea is that the warm water will melt the ice, and that the salt will stop your driveway from getting frozen again.

While this is a good idea, it can create a slushy mess if you aren’t careful. For example, this is only a good option if you already salted your driveway earlier. Ice can still form on salted driveways, so that can explain why you still find ice.

Now, however, mixing warm water with salt means the new ice that forms will be slushy. You can offset this problem by mixing a solution with more salt than water, and only spraying a thin layer of water on your driveway.

4. Use White Vinegar

By now, you’ve probably used distilled white vinegar for many household problems. After all, it’s a tried and true problem solver, and you can even use it to melt ice on your car. The key is to make a 1:1 solution with equal parts white vinegar and water.

That way, the solution will be acidic enough to melt ice and stop it from re-freezing, despite the water. The warm water will ultimately serve as somewhat of a carrier for the white vinegar in this case. Fill a pump sprayer with the solution and evenly apply it across your driveway.

However, you may want to make a 2:1 solution with more vinegar than water to play it safe. This ensures that the acetic acid in the vinegar will take over and do more work than the water. Some people solely use white vinegar, which works, but may stain your driveway.

Can You Pour Hot Water On Your Frozen Windshield?

Never pour hot water on your frozen windshield, as it may shatter and create a big mess. Replacing a standard windshield costs between $200 and $500, but it costs thousands for luxury cars. Understandably, some people pour hot water on their windshields to quickly melt the ice.

However, the excessive heat will negatively interact with the freezing windshield. Even if it doesn’t shatter, your windshield will likely at least crack, which is quite unsafe. You can even get in trouble for driving with a cracked windshield.

While hot water is bad, you can at least treat your windshield with some mildly warm water. That’s especially true when paired with salt, rubbing alcohol, or dish soap. However, you must thoroughly clean your car after using a mixture of salt and warm water, as they’re corrosive when paired.

Summing It Up

Don’t pour hot water on your driveway; instead, use warm water to avoid damaging the surface. Mix the warm water with rubbing alcohol and dish soap to melt the ice on your driveway. After melting the ice, it’s a good idea to salt your driveway to ensure the water doesn’t freeze again.

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