Spartan Mowers Releases 2025 Product Lineup
Jessica Schwartz
Achieving Liquidity In Snow Services
ICYMI: Winter’s not done with us yet–which means salting, spreading, and plowing aren’t done with us yet either. Find out how John Langton’s crew at Langton Group in Woodstock, IL makes salt brine profitable. The good, bad, and profit potential of liquids. What many snow operators don’t realize is that they’re already using liquids in some way. When applying rock salt and pre-wetting or using treated salt, you are using liquids as an accelerant to speed up the melting process. Even when you are using just rock salt, you are still using liquids. Let me explain. You apply rock salt to a coating of snow, the rock salt uses the liquid in the snow to mix into a liquid salt brine, which then effectively lowers the freezing point, turning the snow into liquid! Now that we realize we all have experience using liquids at some level, let’s talk about what holds most contractors back from going all in. Most people fear change. We get caught up in the “if it’s not broke don’t fix it” mentality. Here’s the problem with that: the system is broken. Applications of bulk rock salt are often more than what is needed to get the job done safely. Liquids can help with achieving lower application rates on both pre- and post-event treatments. Additionally, it can dramatically lower application rates on post treatments, even if you choose to apply bulk rock salt at that point. What holds most contractors back is slip and fall liability, capital ...
Chemistry 101: Rock Salt And Liquids
By Wilf Nixon Rock salt is everywhere in winter maintenance, which makes it important to understand how it works when we use it, and what it can (and cannot) do. Let’s start by dispelling the myth that “liquids don’t work.” The first thing to know about rock salt is it is soluble in water. It can’t work effectively until it forms a liquid solution! Rock salt + water = Brine. That solution will have a lower freezing point than pure water. How much lower that freezing point depends on how much rock salt is added to the water. 2.2 pounds of rock salt + 1 gallon of water = Solution that is 23 percent salt by weight. 6.02°F = The lowest freezing point we can get from mixing salt with water under ideal situations (e.g., in a laboratory). In practice, out on the road or on a parking lot, don’t expect to see brine effectively melting ice at those low temperatures. It’s not designed to melt ice Rock salt does not melt much ice — but it does not need to in order to be effective. What if we have a one-acre lot with a pavement temperature of 23°F? If we spread 200 pounds of rock salt over that parking lot, it will melt about one-hundredth of an inch of ice — not much, but plenty to stop the snow or ice from freezing to the surface. Even with that low of an application rate, rock salt will achieve its ...
