# Prewetting



## guido (May 13, 2001)

Who prewets their dry de-icing materials? We have the capabilities on most of our dry spreaders and we always have tons of liquid de-icer on hand, just never had the need to do it. I understand the benefits of it, but it just seems we're doing okay, so we've been using the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" way of looking at it.

One question I did have, was do you have to worry about the liquid and dry chemicals being compatible in any way?

Lets see if I have the reasons to pre wet down right in my head:

1. Helps bond the dry material to the ice or the surface so it doesn't blow away

2. Helps start the reaction a lot faster

3. Therefore use less dry material

What are your guys ideas on this.


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## Taconic (May 18, 2001)

*Prewet*

Maybe i can give you some helpful info on this subject Guido.We use salt that has been treated with chemicals prior to putting it on the road surface.This is known as stockpile treated.Alot of guys use prewet there salt using the prewet tanks which are normally mounted to sanders or tailgates.Both stockpile treated salt and prewet systems work well.Stockpile treated salt works better than prewet due to the location of the spray heads and how they spray liquid onto the salt as it comes out of the sander.The problem with prewet system is that some of the liquid sprayed onto the salt gets atomized,some hits the salt and some of the liquid just hits the roadway.This poses a few problems the biggest being that it is not real efficient on liquid but is on salt.You tend to use more liquid or rather waste more liquid this way.Where stockpile treated salt is already covered with liquid and tends to be sticky which will reduce the bounce and scatter which is common with dry material.
The purpose for the chemicals is to keep the snow and ice from bonding to the pavement.Think of a frying pan and an egg.The chemical works the same way that PAM works in a frying pan,it keeps the egg from sticking to the pan.Another great benefit with some liquid ice melters is the residual effect.You can gain yourself 1,2,3,or more hours longer before your roads start to cover with snow if you have used chemicals during earliar storms.Not all chemicals do this but several of them have this benefit.In the long run when using chemicals and using them in the right manner you will increase the level of service to your customer ,reduce your liability exposure,and reduce your over head.
John P


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## Chuck Smith (Dec 30, 1999)

John P is right on. If you want to learn even more about de-icers, and salt specifically, check out the Salt Institute.

www.saltinstitute.org

TONS of info there.

~Chuck


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## Guest (May 26, 2001)

I have had good results with pre-wetting. I pre-wet both salt, and sand/salt mix with mag cloride.

Geoff

Too bad I had to make a new login name, and Become a junior member all over again.


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## Chuck Smith (Dec 30, 1999)

Geoff, Eric ELM can easily change your old name, to Geoff D. and keep your total posts from yuor old name. He'd have to delete your new name though, so you'd lose the 2 posts you made so far.

~Chuck


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## Eric ELM (May 13, 2001)

*Geoff*

If you want to copy and paste the couple posts you did into new posts, I can delete the old ones so they are all under your new name and your old post count. Your name has been changed to the new name on the old post count.  Log in as your new name and the password you had on the old membership. If you have any problems, email me.
Eric


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