How to Handle Frosted Locks

Are you fed up with dealing with frosted locks of your car and home during winter? If so, go through some of the best tips on how to handle frosted locks.

Living in countries with snow-filled winters offers a lot of opportunities for people to enjoy adventure sports such as sled rides and skating. Even though it feels amazing to live in a place filled with snow, it is not always easy and fun. This is because it becomes a hassle when you need your car every day to commute to work but you get stuck because of a frosted lock.

Hazardous slippery roads and frosted locks on vehicles are enough to ruin your whole day. If you are facing such issues, get in touch with locksmithslocator.com as we are proficient in the locksmith industry and therefore how to efficiently deal with such issues.

We also guide homeowners on how to deal with frosted locks and get them prepared when the winter starts and snow begins to fall.

Read on to know about the useful tips on how to fix a frozen lock of your home and car and make your frosted doors completely manageable again.

Why Do Locks Freeze?

There are several reasons for the locks on your vehicles freezing. First, you have scrubbed your vehicle lately and the weather becomes chilly just below freezing point. Second, you have left your vehicle out in the cold weather overnight or parked in an open area for a long time.

In addition to locks of your vehicles, padlocks, and locks of your front doors, shed, garage, mailbox, and gates freeze because of the chilly weather that freezes the water that naturally sneaks in the interior parts of the locks and keyholes.

Effective Tips to Defrost Your Home Door Locks

Here are a few effective tips that you could use to help unlock the door while the lock is frosted:

• Application of Heat: You can use a hairdryer or blow torch to warm up the keys. However, if you are outside your home, you may not be able to access them. You can use a lighter or some matches. In general, you may use any source of heat to warm up the key. Fit the key into the lock and find the excessive ice gradually melting away. You can also make use of a car’s radiator to warm the key to defrosting your home lock. Make sure that you use proper gloves to warm up the key to avoiding ill-fated accidents.
• Scrape Away The Ice: You can use any sharp object or smaller items to scratch away the ice that has deposited on the interiors of the lock. It is important that you do this properly so as to ensure the lock doesn’t get damaged.

If you think you might break the lock during the process, you must discuss the issue with a qualified locksmith. Our team members come with all the necessary tools to make sure that the work is done to your satisfaction.

Effective Tips to Defrost Your Car Door Locks

It is convenient to fix the issue of defrosted car door locks compared to home door locks because you can easily access the needed tools and items from your home. Here are a certain tried and tested tips:

• Aerosolized De-Icer: You can bring a can of de-icer from your house and use it to melt the deposited ice in and around the lock of your vehicle. Alternatively, bring a hairdryer towards your car lock to defrost the ice. You can make use of an extension cord to assist the dryer to reach your car lock. Blowing hot air over the frosted lock of your car will melt the deposited ice, making the lock functional.
• Make the key warm: If you are unable to access your home, you can make use of a lighter or matchstick to warm your key. Also, you can immerse your key in the hot water to defrost it. Make sure you use proper gloves to pick up the key to avoid burning your hands.

Some Simple Tips to Avoid Your Locks From Frosting

One of the main factors responsible for affecting the functioning of your locks in chilly weather is moisture. The moisture gets trapped in the inner parts of the locks and converts to ice as the temperature lowers.

Here are certain things that you can follow to avoid this situation:

• Smear oil on locks. You can smear oil on your locks. This will create a protective layer over the internal machinery and prevent the moisture to trap in. In addition, you can lubricate the oil on the keys and keyways of both your car and home locks before the chilly weather sets in.
• Spray Lubricants: You can make use of WD-40 lubricants and spray it on gates, cars or mailbox doors before the onset of snowy winters. These bottles come available with a joint straw, which makes it easy to spray it inside the keyways and reuse as needed. You can place a few bottles all around the house and outside as well so that you can make use of them when you want to defrost your home and car locks.

If you are not able to get hold of WD-40 spray or you are unable to stand its strong odor, you can make use of graphite. It works wonderfully to remove the moisture from locks and keyways, stopping frosting.

• Shield your locks and keyholes: You can fill the keyholes of your locks with putty and remove it when you want to unlock the doors. You can use duct tape to cover the locks of your mailbox, garage, gates, and padlocks to avoid the issue of frosting in the cold season. It is important that you make sure that the bag, tape or cover that you are using to cover the locks is not wet.

It is important that you always remain safe and vigilant when using any of the above-mentioned methods to deal with frosted locks in your home. If you are not confident and think that you might spoil the lock of your car or home, it is best to get in touch with us.

Our team has skilled and qualified locksmiths who can help you with any issue you might be dealing with regarding locks of your vehicles and home. Don’t hesitate and wait for the issues to become more complicated; contact us as we are just a phone call away!