Dealing with Frozen Sand

[Gene Blister]

Between the Land Pride back blade to keep the margins open and a truck-mounted DR Redi-Plow Plus to push off what piddling amounts of snow weve had so far, Ive been able to keep our roads smooth as silk.

Unfortunately when you get a warm rain and then a freeze, your smooth roads drive like theyve been treated with a Zambnoni. My friend and neighbor almost slid off the hill on what we humorously refer to as “dead mans curve.”

So Ive picked up a Land Pride FSP500 Broadcast Spreader to throw traction sand now (and seed, fertilizer and topsoil in the pasture next spring.)
Problem is, if its wet on a warmer day the sand will form a mound down at the circulator base and stop flowing evenly. If its wet on a cold day, it will freeze.

Anyone found any solutions for keeping traction sand from freezing and also for storing large amounts of it so you dont have to hit the CoOp for a lot of bucks every time you want to sand?

Would mixing salt into the sand work?

Thanks again guys!

 

[BAP]

Around here, most winter road sand gets mixed with salt to keep it from freezing up. If straight sand is used, usually it is screened when loading into the spreader to remove the frozen chunks.

 

[ItBmine]

Like Bap said, mix with salt when you store the sand.

Or maybe buy bags of playground sand? At least it should be dry.

This winter has been horrible. I have never really had to worry about ice up where I am.
It usually goes to freezing temp and stays there before the snow comes.

This year it has snowed while the temps were about freezing, then froze, then rained, then froze, then thawed and rained, then froze. LOL.

Even the poor trees are taking a beating with all the ice on them.

 

[RCW]

My driveway is short but wide with multiple turnarounds.

I don’t use salt since it really just makes worm holes in the ice and nothing more.

I try to apply sand regularly. It helps as we get snow, and as the stuff melts, I have multiple layers of sand to keep everything from getting too slick.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tughill Tom]

I'm lucky to have a friend with a sand pit and fill up about twice a year. I mix with salt and store in a heated garage as needed. It takes about 50Lbs of mixed to get some grip on my driveway, which could be a bobsled run if left untreated.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Salted sand up here is a bad idea, it kills too much, really bad for the water table and lakes.
Go to North 40 and get a couple bags of purple heat, magnesium chloride, it's a fertilizer and pet safe.

It has a better melt point than salt anyways.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Sounds like you go through a lot so build a 'sand shed'. 3 solid walls and a roof, with tarp 'door' on the open gable end. A 9by12 costs about $500 Canucks, 2by4s,plywood,tin roof. Put down a foot of 3/4 CLEAR gravel, then dump COARSE sand on top. Depending on when you buy the sand,it may take months to dry it, but on dry it's EASY to use. If you can place access door on southern end, so Mr. Sun dries up the wet sand faster.
Up here 'big boy' sand sheds are open to the south. Something you never see or think of,until someone points it out....

 

[ItBmine]

Salted sand up here is a bad idea, it kills too much, really bad for the water table and lakes.
Go to North 40 and get a couple bags of purple heat, magnesium chloride, it's a fertilizer and pet safe.

It has a better melt point than salt anyways.

This is what I don't understand here in this day of environmental concern.

I live right in the middle of three of the Great Lakes. All our roads and highways run alongside bodies of water. And they pour so much salt on the roads it is sickening. So much infact, that once it melts the snow and ice, they look like white gravel roads with inches of salt still sitting.
It rots out all your vehicles and between it and the de-icing liquids they mix with it, you drive a couple miles and your headlights are rendered useless because it turns to cement on them.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

yup...salt is real cheap AND it makes for LOTS of car sales...the heck with the environment !!! ALL the concrete bridges need to be replaced too !
It's too bad they don't use beet juice. Farmers would make money, roads/bridges safe and fish wouldn't die....
Someone FINALLY figured out why salt water fish are liking Lake Ontario !!
Oh well... it's a 'follow the money' thing.

 

[ItBmine]

That's the sad part. They have proven stuff that has shown to work better, that is better for the environment, won't hurt vehicles and infrastructure, and benefit farmers.

I used to haul salt to the MTO yards every winter, but they want you haul it for free, so don't do that any more. Better off to let the truck and trailer sit in the yard rust free for the summer construction season.

 

[dlsmith]

yup...salt is real cheap AND it makes for LOTS of car sales...the heck with the environment !!! ALL the concrete bridges need to be replaced too !

Not good for steel bridges either.

You can't plant white pines close to the roads around here as the road salt kills them in a couple of years. My neighbor has a row of stumps to prove it.

 

[troverman]

I live very near BAP and agree the thing to do is mix some salt in with the sand. That's how every DPW and DOT for the state treat their sand to prevent freezing.

I hate the use of salt for its impact on steel, namely vehicles. I think the environmental impact, however, is pretty overstated. For the tens of thousands of tons of salt dispersed on to the roads in my area, you see only a small patch of dead grass in the spring on the road edges, and by mid summer these have recovered with lush green grass. As for impact on water...we certainly aren't seeing masses of dead fish washing up...far from it. And we use as much or more salt in the northeast then anyone.

Beet juice doesn't freeze...but it also doesn't "melt" ice.

A few communities including my own are trying a salt slurry mixed with molasses. The idea is that the molasses sticks the salt to the roadway instead of it washing to the edges and needing a new application. This reduces salt consumption, and the molasses mix is less corrosive to steel.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

just one hit from googling 'salty lakes in Ontrio'

https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/some-southern-ontario-waterways-now-as-
salty-as-the-ocean-wwf-canada-1.4474422

Sadly liberal sheeple believe the salt used in winter just 'goes away', no harm... but now some are FINALLY seeing and reading that it is harmful to the environment. I suppose that can afford to buy new cars every 5 years don't have to care and perhaps there's 'job security' for a select few.

I had to dig/run 300' of tile to get some road salt water through my property as 1/4 of it will NOT row veggies anymore. Wish I could afford 24" culverts to have 100% of the salt bypass my land though. Even 12" would be 9X better.

 

[troverman]

just one hit from googling 'salty lakes in Ontrio'

https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/some-southern-ontario-waterways-now-as-
salty-as-the-ocean-wwf-canada-1.4474422

Sadly liberal sheeple believe the salt used in winter just 'goes away', no harm... but now some are FINALLY seeing and reading that it is harmful to the environment. I suppose that can afford to buy new cars every 5 years don't have to care and perhaps there's 'job security' for a select few.

I had to dig/run 300' of tile to get some road salt water through my property as 1/4 of it will NOT row veggies anymore. Wish I could afford 24" culverts to have 100% of the salt bypass my land though. Even 12" would be 9X better.

I'm a little dubious road salt is the cause of such a problem...after all, it is only used about 4 months of the year. Most bodies of water have stream or river outlets which purge contaminants along and eventually the salt should end up in the ocean.

I'm all for eliminating salt, though. I'd be very happy to just have the road crews use sand.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

bin here 33 years, 2 year ago they regraded/paved the road , so 1,000s of gallons of BRINE, flow through the field weeekly....the ONLY difference IS the salt water ...

 

[ItBmine]

Just saw it again on the farm channel here.....it is grape extract solutions Washington State just tested. They said it melts ice faster than salt and chlorides and is safe for infrastructure.

 

[KTOY]

Just saw it again on the farm channel here.....it is grape extract solutions Washington State just tested. They said it melts ice faster than salt and chlorides and is safe for infrastructure.

I have a gravel driveway and don’t really care about melting ice. I don’t believe the grape juice helps with tire grip does it? Toss an electric blanket over the sand pile.

 

[D2Cat]

Soon the grape extract solutions will find their way to the inside of tires to compete with beet juice. What's next?

 

[GreensvilleJay]

hmm, wonder if you can make wine with it ?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

hmm, wonder if you can make wine with it ?

It's the leftovers from making wine.