maybe you have already seen this,
but it is a first for me.
it might work, too
since we have the
old-style locks.
Could use the flashlight without turning it on to just break the ice on the front of that lock. Or the key. But then what? There’s a good chance you’re still not going to open that door cuz it’s going to be frozen shut. Then you’re still going to have all that ice on the windshield and all the windows and mirrors that you have to melt or scrape before you can go anywhere. When that’s going to happen I put a tarp with bungees over most of the front end to include the doors. If we get a little that I didn’t think was going to add up I’ll go out with 2 gallons of hot water and repeatedly keep throwing it on windshield and all glass that I have to melt. And I never lock the doors so I don’t have to worry about getting a key in it.
Hot water on glass in frost?! So do if you want to lose all the glass, including sidelights ...
Many decades of melting ice off of vehicle glass. You don’t use a 5 gallon pail of boiling water. Sturdy one gallon plastic jugs with good handles. Tap water 115F ,48C. You’re throwing it out in small amounts across the top of all glass/ice. Anything from heavy frost to the picture above with the flashlight. Ice that thick above might take 4 to 5 gallons especially if it was also really cold. More often you end up with snow and ice that’s really hard to scrape especially if the vehicle was warm when it starts snowing. With a tall vehicle such as a high pickup truck or tall van getting up there trying to stand on the tire and scrape that is just too freaking miserable. Or unscrew the antenna and put a tarp that’s big enough to cover down below the driver and passenger door windows and the windshield complete with plastic hook bungee cords. Takes at least 5 minutes to put that on if it’s not windy. And then at least another 5 minutes to take it off and shake the snow off and fold it in the morning. Unless it’s windy, then everything takes longer.
They fry eggs on hotwire maglite back in a day 
Never thought about that but I’m sure it would work! If it’s cold enough I’d be concerned that the inside of the cylinder would freeze right back up if the meltwater got in there. I usually just break it off with the corner of an ice scraper, falls away cleanly, same around the door jambs. Ice is such a pain in the rump. We often get 3-4 times the thickness shown in this photo, sometimes more.
turkey d, i don’t see it workin at all. i tried putting a bright led light against the back of my hand—didn’t feel any heat.
well, it will not work for me,
because our weather does not
usually include freezing rain.
however…
maybe someone has accomplished
something similar to the posted picture
and could/would (please?) elaborate.