why havent truck manufactures found a way round the washer bottle freezing? been down to stafford in a 09 daf 85 tonight fair enuff it was minus 14 but regardless why do they situate them right behind the grill surely they could move them nearer the engine or even better make them outa stainless steel and attatch them to the engine close to the exhaust manifold i got sick of stopping every ten mins on the a34 and throwing snow at windscreen. would any of the above be possible do u think?
stop using the wipers 
it just makes it worse, leave them alone and drive with the screen dirty, its not that hard.
You should read the label of the screen washer you buy/topup; there’s usually info on what temp will it freeze.
The tank cann’t be made of steel as it would then freeze even quicker. Neither it can be mounted to the exhaust manifold as the temp would boil the liquid off at full load/hot ambient. The washer fluid is usually based on methanol and its presence in the engine bay means higher fire risk and toxic fumes.
It’s right behind the grill because of access and ease of topping up.
You can still go for a cold pack, either DIY or proper 
Depending on accessability - wrapping it in foil will help
I don’t think anything helps, it tends to freeze at the nozzle jets.
Just keep a Fairy Liquid bottle with a slightly concentrated solution in the cab.You only need to lean out of the side window to squirt it on the windscreen.You could try bubblewrap or polystyrene around the washer bottle.If the washer pipes are accessible you could perhaps cover them with grey foam pipe insulation.I suppose you could try and insulate the washer nozzles externally using pipe insulation aswell.
Buy a good Washer fluid. Halfords do a concentrate for use down to -25 which is pretty good. Their pink, nice smelly stuff goes down to -8 as well.
When I used to do alot of Europe, where it’s regularly colder than most times & places in the UK, I used to make up my own concoction …
… good quality screen wash, washing up liquid, a capfull of anti freeze or alcohol/methanol (or both) and top up with a little water. Seemed to work most of the time! Also keep some in a spare container to top up on the road and some in a squirty bottle to use at other times or for cleaning side windows & mirrors 
I just leave the wipers on constant it clears the screen eventually.
Harry Monk:
I don’t think anything helps, it tends to freeze at the nozzle jets.
Spot on, very rarely does the main bottle its always the jets, would not be hard to have heated jets though.
The manufacturers could extend the flexible plastic pipe and wrap it around one of the water hoses a few times to work like a heat exchanger…
TC
Heated jets have been around in the past, but seem to have fallen out of favour, presumably because the rarity of this weather doesn’t justify the expense.
You used to be able to get a top hose for a mini with a built in coil of washer tubing, I wonder if it’d work on those mini - artics.
Taxi…
I just put in neat screen wash no water it seems to work even yesterday when it was -15 and the gov has just orderd another 500 lts for the tank in the yard
What i used to do was fill bottle with water and add a small amount of methylated spirits,that kept the jets clear and the screen grease free.
regards dave.
I used my brain last night(a rare ocurrence) and wrapped the washer jets in plastic bags so they wouldn’t freeze. Worked a treat, pity the rest of the system frooze solid DOHH 
Years ago, a lot of lorries had the washer bottle inside the cab, the Bedfords and Fords had them in the passenger footwell. As has been stated earlier,the water freezes in the nozzles.
With all the developments, surely it cant be that difficult to design heated nozzles/wiper blades ?
hyper26:
why havent truck manufactures found a way round the washer bottle freezing? been down to stafford in a 09 daf 85 tonight fair enuff it was minus 14 but regardless why do they situate them right behind the grill surely they could move them nearer the engine or even better make them outa stainless steel and attatch them to the engine close to the exhaust manifold i got sick of stopping every ten mins on the a34 and throwing snow at windscreen. would any of the above be possible do u think?
Typical Daf I’m afraid, does the same in mine! What I do is to carry a bottle of water with me, and when the crap on the windscreen becomes too irritating, pull into a lay-by, set the wipers going then spit gobfulls of water over the swept area. Works a treat, the down side comes when you catch up with the muppets that threw the said crap over your screen in the first place 
, having got past them see that the screen is once again filthy, look for lay-by ect, ect, ect 
As a foot-note to the above, make sure you don’t cough up an ‘oyster’ while spitting water on your windscreen, you’ll stall the wipers 
Earlier in the week I got away with adding hot water to the washer bottle & dousing the washer jets with the same however that was no match to when I arrived in ■■■■■■■■■■■ yesterday morning & found the washer bottle had frozen. Whats the legal issue on having washers not working due to the outside temperature?
paulfromwire:
Whats the legal issue on having washers not working due to the outside temperature?
That would come down to safety rather than legally in certain circumstances.
A driver who claimed that he had an incident due to washers not working would be questioned as to the exact circumstances and if it was deemed that the driver could have safely stopped then a prosecution would be likely.
ROG:
paulfromwire:
Whats the legal issue on having washers not working due to the outside temperature?That would come down to safety rather than legally in certain circumstances.
A driver who claimed that he had an incident due to washers not working would be questioned as to the exact circumstances and if it was deemed that the driver could have safely stopped then a prosecution would be likely.
Know what you’re saying there ROG however is an inoperative windscreen washer an MOT failure/immediate prohibition or would VOSA exercise some discetion with the inclement weather?