Snow Attachments 3pt electric sprayer with salt mix to melt snow ice

[BrierPatch]

I have been doing some searching and haven't been able to come up with much info.

I was thinking about how the highway dept. uses some kind of spray on the roads these days, and was wondering if I could make a salt solution to put in my 3pt electric sprayer, and spray my steep gravel drive to melt the snow/ice off. I can't plow it clean and it doesn't get much sun.

Has anyone tried this before? Would the salt concentration have to be so much that it wouldn't be feasible or spray? possibley bigger nozzels or holes?

 

[leonz]

In order to accomplish this you will need to premix the salt brine to twenty three point five percent by volume and you have to purchase a salinimeter/ saline hydrometer and hydrometer jar to test the chloride levels as you mix AND use table salt as the electric pump will not mix the rock salt without damaging the pump.

For what you are doing combining the spreading of sand and calcium chloride flakes will be much more cost effective for you.


Please do not think I am trying to spend your money.

I have been through this my self and I only use sand at all times

Once you use the sprayer for salt brines you will not be able to use it for anything else.

 

[flyingcow]

I'm with Leon. That brine will ruin about anything it touches. Unless it's stainless. Usually the flakes will work down to -10 or -15? If you got a walk behind broadcaster, it will give you a good even spread. Let it work it's magic and scrape the driveway down with your bucket? A good salt sand mix works very well also.

 

[crazyal]

I've only seen brine used on pavement. I think you'll be better off just getting a good 3pt spreader. I like the Herd sanders but there are a few other nice quality ones out there. Get something that can spread wet sand and then (if you have a place to put it) get a dump truck load (it's about $3 a ton around here plus trucking).

 

[BrierPatch]

Thanks for the replys guys.

I figured there was a reason no one was doing it. I keep thinking about getting a spreader, just keep putting it off. Just had the thought the other day about the sprayer. It is all plastic with a diaphram pump, so I figured it would handle the brine solution okay.

I will be on the lookout for a 3pt spreader with a poly hopper on sale.

Thanks again for the feedback.

 

[drmac]

I put together a home made sprayer on my pickup, 125 gal poly tank, ball valve shut off, tiny plastic pump (5 gal per minute) and a plastic sprinkle pipe across the back with 1/16 inch hole every 10 inches. I'm using purchased calcium chloride solution for the PRE-SNOW treatment on asphalt.

So far, with just two snow storms, it seems to work well. I was advised to spray on the clean roadway before a storm and expect it to last about 2 weeks.

There is a bit of info on the net, look up road de-icers and pre-treatment. I'll post more info and pictures when I get back from Alaska, where we're having-----SNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOWWW!!! (and my tractor's about 1200 miles down the road).

DrMac

 

[namesray]

i work for the state transportation dept in north central pa. and we've started getting into "brine" heavily about 4 years ago. in our county, the plow trucks have a brine tank on them that is used to "pre wet" the sand/salt mix material at the spinner. this is to help activate the salt quicker and eliminate bounce of the material off the road. most trucks use between 7 to 15 gallons per ton of granular material. this seems to work pretty good. we also have a tanker truck that will spray brine directly on PAVED roads at a much higher volume. this seems to work OK if temperatures are up enough (20*f and up) and there is enough traffic volume to keep the brine working. spread it on a secondary road with not much traffic and if freezes back over making things worse. also if it is still snowing, it tends to "slime up" if there is not enough traffic flow. if it snows heavy enough, it will "slime up" no matter what. the brine truck has to plow even the littlest amount of snow off for this process to work efficiently. to make a long story shorter, if you don't put enough brine down, it can start to melt off the snow (making a diluted salt brine and water) and refreeze, making things even more slippery. i would be afraid that putting "enough" salt brine on your GRAVEL driveway would cause it to become a muddy mess, especially in spring. any amount of salt bigger then a trace causes dirt/gravel mixture surfaces to become a muck mess with the thaw out of winter. we don't spread any salt on our dirt roads during winter operations.

 

[leonz]

Thanks for the replys guys.

I figured there was a reason no one was doing it. I keep thinking about getting a spreader, just keep putting it off. Just had the thought the other day about the sprayer. It is all plastic with a diaphram pump, so I figured it would handle the brine solution okay.

I will be on the lookout for a 3pt spreader with a poly hopper on sale.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Save your money for a smal Vicon pendulum spreader.

The spinner spreaders are more trouble than the pendulum
type as they will plug UNLESS they have a cam type agitator
in the base of the spreader( I do not know of any that do)
save your money as a pendulum spreader will have the same
price the year round.

Another option is buying a used pendulum spreader through
an auction via Tractor House, AuctionTime, FarmAuction
or IronPlanet.

You will have no trouble finding parts for a used Vicon
Pendulum Spreader in any case.

You wil be able to spread frozen sand and salt or calcium
quickly and without waste as the Vicon can be dialed in to
limit the spreading width AND volume by reducing the swing
of the pendulum tube AND the Vicon has salt and sand tubes
attachments that will allow you to spread to the left or
to the right to prevent over spray of salt or calcium flakes.

The nice thing about the Vicon Pendulum spreaders is the
Poly Hopper as it is easy to clean and the spreader is easy
to wash out with warm water and Dawn Dish Soap if you only use salt
or calcium- But the with the cost of sand being what it is you can
buy a hundred times as much sand as you could salt or calcium
per pound.




The small diaphragm pumps will not handle the brine mix unless it is totall dissolved and will jam unless you have a Y strainer before the suction side of the diaphragm pump.

I do not wanto spend your money, I have learned from 33 years of experience that spending inexpensively end up biting you in the private parts because things will break when you need them most.


_________________________________________________________________
Pronovost or not at all!!!:thumbsup::licking::drool:

 

[DJ54]

I'd skip the calcium chloride, and go with straight dry sand, or limestone screenings, or 8's. If the sun hits the driveway, just the stone absorbing the sunlight will somewhat melt the snow, plus provide traction.

Back during the blizzard of '78, they sent one of the trucks out to get one of the guys that could not get out. He plowed in, and put down a mix of calcium chloride, salt, and cinders, so as to get traction coming back out.

Two days later, when he went back home, the wheel tracks were so soft, the guy that took him home got stuck, high centered longways. Wheel tracks melted, and bottom dropped out, but the rest was solid.

Took 500 tons of #2 limestone, just in the wheel tracks, to make it driveable again.

Plus Calcium Chloride is just nasty stuff anyway. If you get it on wet/damp leather boots, or gloves, just about guarantee you won't get them on the next day when they dry out. It will shrink the leather, and saw a pair of boots, that the toes were straight up..., LOL...

 

[MMagis]

Gravel driveways and snow/ice melting substances are a bad combo. It creates a muddy mess as things thaw out. We had a blizzard about 10 years ago where I put a bunch of salt on the driveway after digging my way out. The wife and I made it up the hill just fine until spring came and everything starting melting. Then we spend three weeks walking the hill because of the mud. The salt soaked into the dirt and it would never firm up. Now, I find that a very small amount of cinders worked better than salt ever did, and it’s free