How does road salt work and when is it worth using?

The number of car accidents and collisions increases drastically every winter. Interestingly, many of them take place not where drivers move at high speed, but in parking lots and neighborhood streets.

Many problems could be avoided if streets and other communication routes were covered with anti-icing agents early enough. Are you looking for proven ways to fight slippery surfaces? We explain to what temperature road salt works and when it is worth using it!

What is road salt made of?

Road salt is a professional agent used to reduce the slipperiness of pavements, streets and other communication routes. Road salt is traded in Poland in the form of unrefined rock salt, the composition of which is precisely defined under the PN-86/C-84081/02 standard.

According to the Polish Standard, road salt must contain:

minimum 90% sodium chloride (NaCl); in practice, its concentration is from 90 to 97%,
maximum 8% of substances insoluble in water,
maximum 3% water,
20 mg of potassium gelocyanide for each kilogram of salt (in products from outside the EU, this ingredient may be present in a different concentration, e.g. in Canada, the permissible concentration of gelocyanide is 13 mg / kg),
the grain size of the salt is 1÷6 mm (the sieving size on the upper 6 mm sieve is maximum 10%, and on the lower sieve 1 mm - 20%).

Potassium gelocyanide is added to the mix to distribute the agent evenly. Under the influence of the compound, salt lumps do not stick together, and the application of antifreeze powder is more efficient.

How road salt works is influenced not only by its composition, but also by the appropriate granularity. It is assumed that the powder should consist of:

60 to 80% of grains 1–3 mm thick,
in 10 to 25% of grains in the range of 3-6 mm,
the remaining 5% may be smaller or larger than standard grains.

This composition ensures easy spreading and long-lasting action of the deicer.

How does road salt work ?

As a result of contact with water contained in snow or ice, salt particles break down into chlorine and sodium atoms. The resulting solution has a low freezing point, and the energy generated by breaking the atomic bonds of sodium chloride bursts the frozen water molecules.

This is why after the application of road salt, the snow and ice on the pavements turns into watery mud. Although it is less slippery and the moisture accumulated in this way evaporates more easily, you have surely heard that many drivers complain about rust spots and sheet metal corrosion in early spring.

The mud caused by road salt is partly responsible for such damage.

Up to what temperature does road salt work?

If you plan to remove a layer of snow from the sidewalk in front of your house, you must remember that the temperature of road salt has certain limits. Therefore, you should choose a mixture of the appropriate class.

The freezing point of road salt from the low price category will range from -4 to -6°C. If you decide on a more concentrated solution, you will be able to effectively use road salt even in 15-degree frost.

Theoretically, it is possible to prepare a solution that can cope with a temperature of -20 ° C, but in practice road salts so concentrated are rarely used due to their harmful effects on the environment.

How often should you use road salt?

Now that you know the temperature up to which road salt works , remember that one-time scattering of the powder is not enough. The speed of action of the solution depends on many factors. These include primarily:

the degree of concentration of the mixture - the greater it is, the faster the weakening of the structure of ice and snow occurs,
intensity of snowfall - falling snow reduces the effectiveness of spilled road salt,
ambient temperature – the type of mixture should be adjusted to it,
the degree of lumping of snow or ice - the more compact they are, the smaller the contact surface with active substances, and the slower the dissolution of the cover.

With a small thickness of the cover, the use of an anti-icing mixture gives results after several dozen minutes. However, if it snows for many hours, you will most likely have to repeat the process several times.

How Much Road Salt Should You Use?

In the case of using anti-icing preparations, the amount of the spilled product is not a factor that would determine the effectiveness of the action. How road salt works is much more influenced by how long snow is exposed to sodium chloride.

In home conditions, for clearing snow from the driveway, stairs or terrace, it is recommended to sprinkle about a kilogram of salt for every 10m ² of surface. This is the amount that, on the one hand, will ensure effective operation, and on the other hand, will not harm plants and pets too much.

Companies involved in maintaining the cleanliness of urban areas use professional salt sprayers for snow removal. These are large and efficient machines that spread road salt many meters around and with much greater intensity, reaching up to 20 kg per square meter.

Where to buy professional road salt?

It doesn't matter if you run a company dealing with cleaning and clearing snow from several districts in a large city, or you want to ensure cleanliness and safety on your plot. In winter you will need the right tools anyway.

The operating temperature of road salt is one thing, but the quality of the raw material is something else entirely. Therefore, when choosing preparations for clearing snow from roads , buy only products from proven companies. Thanks to this, you gain a guarantee that you use certified agents approved for trading in the European Union.

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