Re: Fast door heater for a frozen auto door

phaeton wrote: 
hello-

I have a 99 Ranger pickup which would otherwise be completely
irrelevant to this ng, but something I battle each winter in Wisconsin
is that the driver's side door tends to freeze shut.  I can usually get
the passenger side door open and crawl across but it's a bit of a
hassle, esp. since it is a manual transmission.

I've gone all over the door looking for water leaks but can't find any.
 It's freezing in a couple of small spots where the rubber stoppers
contact the door, and it must be condensation or the act of opening the
door that gets it just a little wet when I open it.  Not a lot of ice,
but just enough to make me worry about someday pulling the doorhandle
off trying to open it.

So i came up with some lame-brained idea of running a small length of
wiring in the door sill with some small, localized "heat sources" in
the areas where it freezes.  A hall-effects sensor (or even magnetic
reed switch) in the rear window can be used to turn the heat on if I
put a magnet (small rare-earth type, fastened to my keychain) up to it
on the outside.  I can power the whole thing with the 12V accessory
jack in the dash.  In theory it sounds like it'd work....

However, what should I use for the heat sources?  A small bit of
nichrome wire?  If Nichrome, where do I get it (old cigarette lighters
or toasters from the junk yard?) and what should I wrap it with?
Should I use tiny light bulbs (there's room for the 12V grain-of-wheat
and pea-sized HO Railroad bulbs)?

Any other suggestions/improvements would be great, even if you don't
think it will work or think this is a bad idea.

Thanks for any and all!

The heating element from an electric blanket would probably be about the right size.

However, I suggest you first coat the gasket and stop surfaces with a little bit of silicone grease and see if that solves the problem.
.

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