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Potatoes on your windshield, cooking oil on a shovel. Finding fact vs. fiction for winter weather hacks.

Winter weather hacks: do they work or are they myths?
Winter weather hacks: do they work or are they myths? 02:23

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - With this cold and snowy weather there are tons of tips, tricks, and hacks floating around on the internet. We wanted to see what would actually work.

One is using a potato on your windshield. The promise of the internet is the sugar in it will work as an anti-freeze.

"You're actually making it worse because of the water content more than the salt content or sugar content," Andy Amrhein of Evey True Value said.

He helped us see if these were hacks or busts.

Something you may have around your house and be using right now is a blanket. It can be used to keep the house warm. It can go on exterior doors between the storm door and it to help insulate it.

"Yes that will help but don't try and use that door because the blanket because the blanket will collect moisture and freeze and you won't get the blanket off," Amrhein said.

There is the idea that coffee grounds can help clear your sidewalks and driveways. At the minimum, they give you some traction, best case they melt the snow and ice.

"It doesn't work," Amrhein said.

This next hack starts with your snow shovel. When you are cleaning up the snow will stick to it so the idea here is to your some cooking oil like on a pan in the kitchen to so it doesn't stick.

"That one actually works. I don't like using cooking oil. I like using either silicon or Teflon spray. The cooking oil will freeze," Amrhein said.

Well, here's some more hacks for your car. 

This one is dependent on your driveway or street. Try to point it east so the morning sun can hit it and have the snow and ice melt. This next hack you have seen and heard before, lift the wipers so they are not sticking to your windshield and freeze in place.

This last one calls for a plastic bag. Put it over the mirrors so they don't freeze. Use a gum band to keep it in place.

"The bag will create a little bit of a tent and then it will start to melt a little bit but when it gets super cold, it freezes back up. Now you have a bag on a mirror that you can't remove," Amrhein said.

While many of these "hacks" may sound enticing, they're simply just social media fodder that often does more harm than good. 

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