Sand for Icy Drive

[mike paulson]

First off I don't use any salt. I've seen way too much equipment turn to garbage by salt use over the years.. So I've used sand called traction/tube sand and general purpose sand which is convenient because it's bagged and easy to keep dry. But the stuff you get today is like friggin dust which turns into a brown slurry and does squat for traction and at 4.50 a bag it adds up. So I've order crushed bluestone by the yard, but the stuff freezes even when covered and under a roof??? What are you guys using for traction on icy roads either bagged or by the yard. I use my bucket loader with an adjustable steel gate I made to spread sand on ice.

 

[Thomas]

I use what they call driveway grit like they use in sanders...no salt,Yep any moisture it freezes like a rock they why I get day I use it...$15 for BIG heaping pickup load.

 

[ruffdog]

I buy the 70lb tubes of sand for weight in the truck. When the bags get old, I put the sand in pails for use on the drive. Some brands are more like powder than others.

 

[George2615]

A friend of mine heats his garage with a coal stove. I get 5 gallon pails of ash from his stove and spread it around on top of ice. Makes for great traction for me. I would imagine ash from a wood stove would work also.

 

[ruffdog]

A friend of mine heats his garage with a coal stove. I get 5 gallon pails of ash from his stove and spread it around on top of ice. Makes for great traction for me. I would imagine ash from a wood stove would work also.

I can imagine that ashes would be tracked into the garage/house, would it not? I'm sure ashes make the ice dark so the sun can melt it easier though.

 

[JerryK]

I put wood ashes across my drive in sideways bands. Help a little with traction, but mainly to help the drive recover when it gets warm in the Spring. A lot of it is cast out into the yard when snowblowing [ good for lawn when spread ]. The ash makes dirty ice which heats up faster in the Spring sun to help the drive ice/snow cover to melt. I keep several bags of 50 pounds bags of play sand in 5 gal buckets for walking between the barn/house if it gets icy. Does not take much and a bag will last several winters. The sand never freezes up like finer stuff.

 

[Dave M7040]

You need to use the "sharp" sand masons use.

Its grains are much more structured and angular than the powdery sand for children's sand boxes.

Brick and masonry sand is also a superior alternative to standard sand in ice-slip control, as the grains don’t clump and create better surface abrasion

Dave M7040

 

[George2615]

I can imagine that ashes would be tracked into the garage/house, would it not? I'm sure ashes make the ice dark so the sun can melt it easier though.

Yes they will get tracked in. We usually remove our shoes upon entering the house. I don't care if it gets tracked into the garage. Garage is home to the tractor in winter and doesn't get swept out till dry season.

 

[shooterdon]

I spread the ashes from my insert. They are free, it gives a use for them and they work better than nothing.

 

[jbrumberg]

I try to spread the wood stove ashes away from Wifey's assumed perimeter around the house and driveway and with some chipping it kind of works out. Wood ashes are dirty on a good day.

 

[radios1]

I think zinc electrodes mounted under your car/tractor would prevent rust. it works great on boats in salt water, the zinc corrodes instead of the steel!..

 

[Fallon]

I think zinc electrodes mounted under your car/tractor would prevent rust. it works great on boats in salt water, the zinc corrodes instead of the steel!..

That prevents galvanic corrosion. Well actually the weakest material (zink, magnesium, aluminum) gets eaten up instead of the steel. So more redirects corrosion to things you dont care about. It doesnt help much with other form of corrosion.

 

[LouNY]

My driveway requires a considerable amount of sand when it gets iced up.
I normally scrape it quite clean which gets some dirt showing.
I have sanded it twice this winter, it takes between a yard to a yard and a half each time.
I also use the ashes from my coal insert, I dump them in the sander first then the salted sand that I have,
I'll sand down the driveway first then back up towards the house so the ashes go on the main drive and not up by the house.
I use salted sand that I have delivered by the tandem or tri axle usually every 2-3 years.
I'm not a fan of salt but 18-20 ton of frozen sand wouldn't work very well either.
Even with the salt in I get a frozen crust or chucks at times that I drive on to crush,
or when they pile on the grate of the sander I'll use the bottom of the bucket to push them through the grating.

 

[radios1]

That prevents galvanic corrosion. Well actually the weakest material (zink, magnesium, aluminum) gets eaten up instead of the steel. So more redirects corrosion to things you dont care about. It doesnt help much with other form of corrosion.

read this. rust is galvanic corrosion. How Does Salt Water Rust Metals? | Sciencing

 

[mike paulson]

I think zinc electrodes mounted under your car/tractor would prevent rust. it works great on boats in salt water, the zinc corrodes instead of the steel!..

I don't see how zink will prevent a salt soaked tractor under carriage from corroding. I'm not using salt anyway because after being a diesel mechanic for 30 years here in the Northeast I know better. Just asking for practical solutions here, not scientific remedies for salt use which I already stated I won't use.

 

[groundcover]

Years ago I was hot to get a spreader. Was talking to a contractor friend who talked me out of it, he made some good points. You are out in the worst of conditions with an overloaded truck and that’s before things turn bad ! Have a friend that comes over and sands mine takes him a couple of minutes when needed, I have him sand any of my plow customers that need it, win win !

 

[rScotty]

I agree. Zinc doesn't hurt, but it's tricky to get much good from a single zinc unless all the metal on the tractor is at the same potential. Nothing wrong with the sacrificail zince idea, although it would sure work better if we put individual zincs on each metal subsection of the tractor .... or else make sure that ALL the metal components are well grounded one to another. And getting them all to a common ground does lead us to the hassle of connecting all the metal components to one another with a single grounding harness.

Of course with metal hulled boats you already have have a single grounding harness called a boat hull. Zincs work works pretty well for a metal boat hull if everything metal is separately grounded to the hull. Getting the same effect is somewhat harder to do with a tractor.

Add a zinc if you want, but It kind of comes down to what Mike is saying, by the time you get the zincs to working right, it might just be easier to avoid salt in the first place.

rScotty

 

[rScotty]

. I use my bucket loader with an adjustable steel gate I made to spread sand on ice.

I've wondered for years what a decent sand spreader would look like.

In my imagination a sander would be something simple that would fit in the front bucket and simply dribble sand evenly over the ice as I drove. That's all, but in a couple of decades I still haven't made anything up yet. I'm still using a loader bucket full of sand, cleats on my boots, and a shovel to throw the sand around.

If your system works better than mine - and it probably does - then I'd sure like to see it.
rScotty