Several performance attributes should guide the choice of an ice melter, but two are especially significant:
– How well does the low temperature performance of the material match the coldest temperatures you’re likely to experience?
– How fast will the substance melt ice to minimize pedestrian exposure to potentially harmful problems?
To assess the performance of deicers against both of these needs, it is helpful to understand that, for ice to melt, the deicer must dissolve in water to reduce its freeze point. This produces a solution that melts the ice on contact. In the event of chloride-based deicers, the solution is known as brine.
The quantity of water increases at higher temperatures and is reduced when temperatures are colder. If solid deicer is thrown on ice which has little water on its surface, melting can be slow to develop.
So which deicers are most likely to dissolve more quickly and at colder temperatures? Because the surface of ice isn’t very moist, you need a hygroscopic deicer that brings any available moisture in the surface and the surrounding air so that it can start to dissolve although conditions are rather dry. You also need a deicer that accelerates melting by chemically reacting with moisture to release substantial heat.
As opposed to releasing heat, they have to draw heat from the environment to dissolve. All these deicers work more slowly than exothermic goods, particularly when temperatures are extremely cold and when small surface moisture is present to assist them dissolve.
Following is a summary of the very widely-used ice melting materials and their performance attributes.
Wholesale Rock salt is widely used, largely because it is easily available and inexpensive. But, rock salt is endothermic. It must draw heat from the environment to form an ice-melting brine. With a lowest effective temperature of 2F (-C), rock salt is a fairly slow and inefficient ice melter when temperatures are coldest. Like all chloride-based substances, rock salt is moderately corrosive to unprotected common metals. Lawns and other crops can be harmed if rock salt deicer is over-applied or huge amounts are directly applied to grass or plant.
Calcium chloride is the most popular non-sodium chloride deicer. Calcium chloride is a hygroscopic substance that attracts moisture from its environment, speeding the production of brine to offer melting action an easy start. Calcium chloride can also be exothermic. As it melts in contact with moisture, it releases a substantial quantity of heat. This makes commercial products containing high levels of calcium chloride faster ice melters and much more capable of colder temperatures than rock salt and other products that have to draw heat from their environment to dissolve and form brine.
Like all chloride-based substances, calcium chloride is moderately corrosive to unprotected common metals but, generally speaking, there’s not much difference in corrosion between the many chloride-based deicers, such as rock salt (sodium chloride), magnesium chloride and calcium chloride. Just like other chloride-based ice melters, over exposure to calcium chloride can damage lawns and other plants if deicer is over-applied or huge amounts are directly applied to grass or other plant.
While some calcium chloride products and other deicers are imported to North America from Asia and other international regions, creating concerns about product quality and accessibility, OxyChem manufactures all of its calcium chloride products in the United States. OxyChem calcium chloride products are stocked in several strategic shipping locations across North America to be certain that supplies are readily available.
Like calcium chloride, magnesium chloride is a hygroscopic material, able to pull moisture from the atmosphere. But, unlike calcium chloride, solid magnesium chloride is a hexahydrate salt, which means it’s 53% water by weight. Because this good product is so dilute, more have to be applied to provide ice melting capacity equivalent to calcium chloride or sodium chloride. When the water content of solid magnesium chloride is factored in the dimensions used to evaluate melting performance, the results demonstrate that it’s somewhat less powerful than sodium chloride (rock salt) after 20 minutes in 2F, even though it’s typically more expensive. Magnesium chloride is exothermic but doesn’t release as much warmth as calcium chloride. It’s a lowest effective temperature of F (-1C).
Like all chloride-based substances, magnesium chloride is moderately corrosive to unprotected common metals but, generally speaking, there’s not much difference in corrosion operation between the various chloride-based deicers. Chloride overexposure can damage lawns and other plants if deicer is over-applied or huge amounts are directly applied to the plant or plant.
Contact RockSalt USA for more information about our products or to request delivery or pickup by calling us at 1(844) 725-8872 today.