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Temperature Dictates Ice Melting Products: Risk Management for Slippery Winter Conditions
May, 2011
By Gloria Marinescu
Ice risk management to prevent slip-and-fall accidents is an important property management issue since a high percentage of pedestrian incidents and injuries typically occur on icy surfaces. Property managers also need to protect their own liability through due diligence.
Reliable contractors should have investigated a variety of ice control strategies and have the expertise to apply them in the right situation. Environmental factors now increasingly shape decisions about ice melting products.
"Our industry has had to rise to the challenge of creating cutting edge ice melting products that work well under storm conditions while taking into consideration the effect they have, not only on the environment and the actual surface, but also pets," notes Mike Prevost, Marketing Manager at Windsor Salt.
Various ice-melting products perform differently under different conditions. The following terminology is used in the industry.
Ice melter: a product that is applied to accumulated snow piles or ice patches in order to melt the layers that have already bonded to the surface (pavement).
Melting temperature: the lowest temperature at which an ice-melting product will melt ice in specific weather conditions.
Endothermic product: an ice-melting product that absorbs heat and requires an outside source of heat to generate ice-melting performance.
Exothermic product: an ice-melting product that generates and releases its own heat. An ice melter with a heat-producing exothermic reaction has the ability to melt at lower temperatures. Calcium chloride is one example.
Rock salt and calcium chloride are the two most common ice-melting products. Magnesium chloride, potassium chloride and urea area also used in some blended products for ice melting. In most cases, temperature affects the way all substances perform.
Rock salt, or sodium chloride, is most commonly used at residential and commercial properties and generally melts to -15( C. Rock salt is typically the least expensive and most readily available product for melting ice.
Calcium chloride creates heat and melts ice faster with a higher penetration rate. These exothermic properties enable it to melt ice at temperatures as low as -31( C.
Magnesium chloride is less effective than calcium, melting ice and snow at -18( C. However, magnesium does offer an edge over straight rock salt since it melts a little faster and at lower temperatures.
Potassium chloride and urea have been combined as an ice melter because of their safe qualities. Both materials have very low toxicity and are fertilizers that are good for vegetation. They are less harmful if eaten by pets, but they only melt to -4( C.
Typically, ice melters are used to break the bond between snow and ice and the surface. However, if applied while the snow is falling, an ice melter can prevent the snow from becoming hard packed and sticking to sidewalks and surfaces.
Apply as the instructions on label direct and make sure to disperse over a wide area. Once the snow and ice turns to slush, it should be removed quickly to avoid surface damage.
The preceding article was provided by Windsor De-Icing Salt. For more information, see the web site at http://www.windsorsalt.com/de_icing/de_icing.html.
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