# Tips to Keep Salt from Hardening



## Andy N.

Anyone have any tips that they know of or use to keep salt from freezing into a block in their spreader. I have a V-box and I had a miserable bout with this the last event. I don't leave salt in there at all, only load up, salt and put back in the pile if any left. Can I mix something in the box to prevent this. I know there is a little moisture in the pile, but it remains covered, as does my spreader but man, what a pain in the but with the digging bar and a total Time KILLER!


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## EJK2352

Mix in some calcuim chloride w/ your salt.


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## John DiMartino

I sue the magic O-it works,no more solid clumps of salt,and it reduces the rusting substantially.I sprayed my pile myself,but you can buy it treated already.


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## Chuck Smith

> _Originally posted by EJK2352 _
> *Mix in some calcuim chloride w/ your salt. *


We actually did this to get rid of some bagged calcium. We mixed one pallet into 50+ tons of salt. It turned it into concrete when it was left in the spreaders. Actually, only one had salt left in it that had to be broken up to get out. The rest had been emptied during the storm. The one that hardened was kept tarped for 2 days. After we went through the mix with calcium, we would leave one hopper full of Magic salt for spot saltings for a week at a time, tarped, with no problems at all.

~Chuck


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## Chief Plow

I have not yet run into this problem. We keep all salt in a barn. Then load up as needed. I keep the hoppers totally covered, we had a guy that makes boat covers make us one for our spreaders. It snaps all the way around. Does a nice job and have not had a problem so far.
Thanks

Rick


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## BRL

If you do a search here you can find a thread on this subject that gives the technical details as to why... But you can spray a little water onto that frozen block of salt & the chopping with the digging bar will go a whole lot easier. Make it wet bulk salt again & you can get it to spread to empty the spreader at least, then start over from scratch with a hopefully better situation.


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## Canadian-Ron

calcuim chloride works wonders for me


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## gordyo

> we would leave one hopper full of Magic salt for spot saltings for a week at a time, tarped, with no problems at all.


This is true as I just tried my first Magic run through my v-box last Friday and I left the Magic in the spreader over the weekend. I came in this morning and looked at it. It had a hard crust on it and I hit the panic button because to the touch it looked all hard. I pulled over to the pile and turned it on and off real quick to see if the v-box was all jambed. It came right out no problem. I had visions of becoming good friends with a shovel and bar in the back of that box today but the Magic came through.


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## KatWalk

*Gordyo*

Jeff, where did you get the Magic in this area?? I am from Georgetown. Bulk or bagged? Any help is appreciated. Thanks . Ryan


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## gordyo

KatWalk,

Sent you an email with that info


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## Doctordo

Can you get magic in bulk ? or anyone have a cost per bag?


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## Brian Akehurst

A couple of you guys were saying you leave Magic in your spreader throughout the week for spot treatments. The key to doing that is like you stated, keep it covered. If you let moisture get in there the magic will begin to work right in your sander. Tip of the week ... KEEP IT COVERED!

Just my 2 cents,

Brian


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## gordyo

Brian,

I am new to using Magic. This may be a stupid question for me to ask but, do you mean covered regardless of whether the truck is kept indoors or out. My truck is indoors in a heated garage and not tarped. Should I still tarp it ??


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## John DiMartino

Gordyo,inside is fine,the only time you'll have problem is if its outside and it rains or snows heavy,the water will wash the magic-o right out of the salt,and out the bottom of the hopper,then your left with straight salt,wet no less,and then it turns into a block of ice.If there is no precipitation,you can leave it outside uncovered too.


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## gordyo

Thanks John:waving:


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## Brian Akehurst

Gordyo,

Sorry I did not get back to you but John is right. Also I would recommend to be careful if you are out spot treating in freezing rain and don't use everthing, if the Magic gets wet outside and you bring it inside it will do the same thing as John said.

Thanks, Brian


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## gordyo

Thanks to all of you for all these Magic tips. 
I am still on a learning curve with this stuff.


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## augerandblade

Anyone know why my stored salt turned hard We had minus 36 Celcius here couple days ago One pile with a blue tinge is still loose the other that i got late fall is brownish and now is hard ??????


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## cretebaby

augerandblade;725110 said:


> Anyone know why my stored salt turned hard We had minus 36 Celcius here couple days ago One pile with a blue tinge is still loose the other that i got late fall is brownish and now is hard ??????


it Froze


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## augerandblade

cretebaby;725230 said:


> it Froze


DUH OKAY,Dont worry 
i got a sense of humour


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## cretebaby

augerandblade;725340 said:


> DUH OKAY,Dont worry
> i got a sense of humour


LOL glad to see you have a sense of humor


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## 2COR517

I had a load freeze in the spreader overnight a little while ago. I don't remember just how cold it was, but not brutal. A friend of mine who has been in the business for years said if you mix just a little bit of sand in, it will not freeze. I am going to try it.


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## snowandgo

How do you break up a bag that is a solid boulder? Even small enough for V-box use would be good. I have about 4 pallets...


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## MrBillsLawn

some tips that i think really help.

if you are having problems with your salt freezing in your truck, make sure that you have one of those propane wand torches. you can stand on top the pile and thaw the whole thing out. heat the pie from the top and the sides of the salter. make sure that you get a big one. we have a 300,000 btu torch and we use it ALL the time. we thaw out salt, melt the bottom of dump trucks and every now and again i heat up my pile. if i have time, i usually warm the salter before i load it. this usually takes about 5 minutes and i think it is worth the time. just have to make sure you don't melt anything.

keep you salt covered. the pile, the salter...everything. salt will draw moisture from the air and start to clump. also make sure to keep snow away from your salt. 

if you have a bin that you are storing the salt in, insulate the outside. salt generates heat, so if you can keep it warm you can keep it clump free. if you have it tarped outside, blow off the tarp with a backpack blower after every snow fall. the heat that the salt generates will melt a little layer of snow and then turn it to ice.........which make future problems.


the easiest way to break clumps is with heavy equipment, but if you don't have any make sure to have sledge hammer and a hand tamp handy. with a frozen bag, cut the bag and remove the wrapper. throw it one some clean cement or ashpault try the tamp first.....if it is really hard use the sledge like a tamp. usually works every time.

next to every salter in every truck we have a long handled flat shovel, and 6' pinch bar and a hammer. once you get a system that works.... stick with it.


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## dfdsuperduty

you can also try and run it over with a fully loaded truck (at least a gmc 5500 loaded with salt or larger) just a thought


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## Ramairfreak98ss

We have pallets that are covered, and wrapped , just rock salt.. sometimes when loading them on the trucks, i notice many of them are hard around the bag pour area or the vent part on the one end. sucks, ive brought bags inside overnight to thaw them.

how does "salt" with moisture in it freeze though? they should be melting the "ice/frost" then right? or is it because theyre in between dry and "wet/brine" ?

sucks, past week ive had a lot of half frozen bags, even ice melters half frozen sitting in the trucks :/


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## JD Dave

MrBillsLawn;725693 said:


> some tips that i think really help.
> 
> if you are having problems with your salt freezing in your truck, make sure that you have one of those propane wand torches. you can stand on top the pile and thaw the whole thing out. heat the pie from the top and the sides of the salter. make sure that you get a big one. we have a 300,000 btu torch and we use it ALL the time. we thaw out salt, melt the bottom of dump trucks and every now and again i heat up my pile. if i have time, i usually warm the salter before i load it. this usually takes about 5 minutes and i think it is worth the time. just have to make sure you don't melt anything.
> 
> keep you salt covered. the pile, the salter...everything. salt will draw moisture from the air and start to clump. also make sure to keep snow away from your salt.
> 
> if you have a bin that you are storing the salt in, insulate the outside. salt generates heat, so if you can keep it warm you can keep it clump free. if you have it tarped outside, blow off the tarp with a backpack blower after every snow fall. the heat that the salt generates will melt a little layer of snow and then turn it to ice.........which make future problems.
> 
> the easiest way to break clumps is with heavy equipment, but if you don't have any make sure to have sledge hammer and a hand tamp handy. with a frozen bag, cut the bag and remove the wrapper. throw it one some clean cement or ashpault try the tamp first.....if it is really hard use the sledge like a tamp. usually works every time.
> 
> next to every salter in every truck we have a long handled flat shovel, and 6' pinch bar and a hammer. once you get a system that works.... stick with it.


We just store the salt in our Coverall and load it in the V Box's and go, not sure why I would ever need to do all of that. Sounds like a make work project to me. BTW I've never used a propane torch on my salt in my life but I have had to put trucks in the shop to thaw out.


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## MrBillsLawn

jd dave, we just load and go as well, but the both of us have equipment to load the salt with. in the past i was loading it off the ground with buckets and shovels. this is when i found these things to work. although i have had a v box freeze up when we were getting 2 inches an hour and then the temp dropped to 0. thats when i got out the torch. when i am melting out dump bodies, sometimes i will hit the salt pile just for fun. the salt pops when you get it good and hot. if i get snow in my hopper i will melt it out before i dump the salt in. i do have a big pile on the ground next to my bin with a tarp and do have to blow off the tarp. i got sick of tearing the tarps and having to buy a new on for $80.


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## timmy1




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## xtreem3d

was curious if that's how you strap the salter in when you use it


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## Turbodiesel

Chuck Smith;65474 said:


> We actually did this to get rid of some bagged calcium. We mixed one pallet into 50+ tons of salt. It turned it into concrete when it was left in the spreaders. Actually, only one had salt left in it that had to be broken up to get out. The rest had been emptied during the storm. The one that hardened was kept tarped for 2 days. After we went through the mix with calcium, we would leave one hopper full of Magic salt for spot saltings for a week at a time, tarped, with no problems at all.
> 
> ~Chuck


We use calcium to accelerate the hardening of concrete.

Magic is the answer.


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## Runner

I talked to a guy that says he sets a heat light (just the triangular flood shaped bulb) in his, then throws a tarp over it.. He said as long as the light is kept away from the tarp (he places a hunk of wood in there to prop the tarp up a bit), the light will keep the moisture out. He doesn't run it all the time...just during the night, I believe.


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## Eronningen

Very interesting comments. I have never had salt freeze in the hopper. But, I typically load it and run out multiple loads. If there is any left over, all trucks are kept in a heated shop so I guess it wouldn't freeze. I keep the bulk salt in the shop and that is never a problem either.
Before the shop, I kept the salt in a container and we must have got a wet load once. Put it all away in there and went to get some one early morning and it was like concrete. The bucket wouldn't do anything, we picked at it with pallet forks to break it up. Seemed like it took forever.


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## mc1

we sometimes throw one bag of calcium roof salt on the top of A full hopper if it is cold keeps the rock salt from freezing


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## N&CLandscaping

All I know is that Magic Salt freezes within an hour if you do not keep it covered!


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## shoeman68

*Frozen Salt*

If you have to keep your salt in overnight or it freezes in general, get 2-3 gallons of windsheild washer fluid and dump it over the salt. Dump some along the sides of the V-box and some on top, give it 5-10 minutes and it will break up enough to get you going.
I've added just water many times to get it going, but leave it running every minute or so, so it does'nt refreeze until you get it empty.


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## farmboy52787

Eronningen;727854 said:


> Very interesting comments. I have never had salt freeze in the hopper. But, I typically load it and run out multiple loads. If there is any left over, all trucks are kept in a heated shop so I guess it wouldn't freeze. I keep the bulk salt in the shop and that is never a problem either.
> Before the shop, I kept the salt in a container and we must have got a wet load once. Put it all away in there and went to get some one early morning and it was like concrete. The bucket wouldn't do anything, we picked at it with pallet forks to break it up. Seemed like it took forever.


I just got a wet load of salt that i treated with Magic. It got down to -18 here and the next storm we had the pile in my storage container was a brick, had to buy a salamander heater to keep in there and that did a good job thawing it out. Will have to keep it running before and during the storm so it will be nice an ready. I'll never buy salt from that distributor again!


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