# Pre-Wetting at the spinner - worth it or not



## procut (Dec 1, 2004)

Season is winding down here, probably only have a few saltings left, but have been kicking around the idea of rigging up a pre-wet system of some sort for next year. Our last two winters have been brutal cold, temps have consistently been >15 degrees most times I've done any salting, so it can be hard difficult to get much action from rock salt. I like the idea of it working faster, and if I could get away with applying a little less material and get the same results that would obviously be a plus.

But, at the same time, I really wonder if simply spraying a little LCC (or whatever, to be determined) is really going to make a difference, or is just going to be an added hassle and expense? 

So my question is basically for those that pre-wet, do you think its worth it or not? And what are you treating the salt with?


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## Derek'sDumpstersInc (Jul 13, 2014)

Works great. I see much better results with than I do without. Without, salt is good to about 15-20 deg depending on sunlight. With, I get good results down to almost 0 deg, which around here is very infrequently. I currently use a product called Icenator which is a liquid mag chloride. It is very expensive, almost 1800 per 275gal tote including delivery. Next year I will be looking for something cheaper to use, but when I started this a couple years ago, this is what I found.


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## Defcon 5 (Mar 20, 2014)

derekslawncare;1970355 said:


> Works great. I see much better results with than I do without. Without, salt is good to about 15-20 deg depending on sunlight. With, I get good results down to almost 0 deg, which around here is very infrequently. I currently use a product called Icenator which is a liquid mag chloride. It is very expensive, almost 1800 per 275gal tote including delivery. Next year I will be looking for something cheaper to use, but when I started this a couple years ago, this is what I found.


How many gallons per ton of salt are you using?


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## Derek'sDumpstersInc (Jul 13, 2014)

Defcon 5;1970366 said:


> How many gallons per ton of salt are you using?


I don't have it measured extremely accurately, but I believe I go through about 20-25 gallons per hopper load which is 3yds of salt. I don't fill the tote all the way because I don't want to carry around the extra weight. I also use it straight on a couple accounts sidewalks that don't like the salt residue tracked into their building, so I made a spray boom on casters that I hook to my hose reel for walks. Obviously, when I'm doing walks also, I go through more. I can't use it on walks when it is still snowing or it will ice up. So I would guess it is around 20 gal when just pre-wetting.


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## Defcon 5 (Mar 20, 2014)

Just wondering.......At $6.54 a gallon seems kinda cost prohibitive for me to use something like that as a pre-wet .....


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## Derek'sDumpstersInc (Jul 13, 2014)

Defcon 5;1970422 said:


> Just wondering.......At $6.54 a gallon seems kinda cost prohibitive for me to use something like that as a pre-wet .....


Yes, but when it is the difference between having something to service your accounts (and create billable work) vs. scratching your head when the calls come in and saying yeah sorry, it's just too cold to do anything, salt won't work this cold, you spend a few extra dollars and bill out a couple thousand. EASY DECISION FOR ME.


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## peteo1 (Jul 4, 2011)

We've been thinking about doing the same thing for next year. Curious to see what other people have to contribute


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## LapeerLandscape (Dec 29, 2012)

Defcon 5;1970422 said:


> Just wondering.......At $6.54 a gallon seems kinda cost prohibitive for me to use something like that as a pre-wet .....


I can buy well brine for well under a $1.00 per gal if I buy 2500 at a time and that's delivered.


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## Derek'sDumpstersInc (Jul 13, 2014)

LapeerLandscape;1970514 said:


> I can buy well brine for well under a $1.00 per gal if I buy 2500 at a time and that's delivered.


Don't know anything about well brine, but can you put that on concrete walks and residential driveways? Sounds like it would be awfully dirty. Maybe leave rust stains? One of the main reasons I started looking for and found the product I use now is because I have a church that was complaining about the residue that was tracking in onto the floor. It was after I got it for that, that I came up with the idea to use it as a prewet when needed due to colder temps. I don't prewet always, only when really cold.


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## LapeerLandscape (Dec 29, 2012)

Its a calcium chloride natural well brine at about 30%. It should not leave rust on the concrete unless there is metal pcs in the concrete.


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## Derek'sDumpstersInc (Jul 13, 2014)

LapeerLandscape;1970539 said:


> Its a calcium chloride natural well brine at about 30%. It should not leave rust on the concrete unless there is metal pcs in the concrete.


Have a storm coming in this weekend, but would like to talk about this more, maybe next week. Can you PM me a number I can call you at next week?


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## procut (Dec 1, 2004)

Thanks for the replies - sounds like something worth looking into.


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## Defcon 5 (Mar 20, 2014)

derekslawncare;1970530 said:


> Don't know anything about well brine, but can you put that on concrete walks and residential driveways? Sounds like it would be awfully dirty. Maybe leave rust stains? One of the main reasons I started looking for and found the product I use now is because I have a church that was complaining about the residue that was tracking in onto the floor. It was after I got it for that, that I came up with the idea to use it as a prewet when needed due to colder temps. I don't prewet always, only when really cold.


Sounds like you have a good plan.............Thumbs Up


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## magnatrac (Dec 22, 2006)

I have a pre wet system that I made for a tail gate spreader. I never put it on my new spreader last year but lately have been thinking I need to. It really did work great on cold days. I had a 35 gallon tank and 2 gpm pump. I never used that much salt so I just mixed the liquid myself. I used one bag of paelladow to 20 gallons of water. I would just mix it as needed. I always mixed it before each use so it was always hot . LCC works great but it works even better when it's 100 degrees getting sprayed on the salt !


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## EJK2352 (Jul 22, 2001)

magnatrac;1970708 said:


> I have a pre wet system that I made for a tail gate spreader. I never put it on my new spreader last year but lately have been thinking I need to. It really did work great on cold days. I had a 35 gallon tank and 2 gpm pump. I never used that much salt so I just mixed the liquid myself. I used one bag of paelladow to 20 gallons of water. I would just mix it as needed. I always mixed it before each use so it was always hot . LCC works great but it works even better when it's 100 degrees getting sprayed on the salt !


Could you post a picture of that pre wet system? I need to build something for my spreader. We have had some very cold days and I have been mixing a bag or two of Peladow with the salt. It works well but adds to my cost. I read that 5-10 gallons of 30% liquid calcium chloride per ton is good rate. My spreader holds 400 lbs. of salt, so at the 10 gal. per ton rate that works out to be 2 gal. of liquid for 400 lbs. ? If it works, it has the potential to save some major money, even if I double the rate to 20 gal. per ton. 
So how do you melt down the Peladow ? 50 lbs. of Peladow in 20 gal. of water will give you how much finished product ? Thanks, Ed


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

Procut, we've been pre treating our salt on one of our v boxes for a few years now with great results and like you, our area can get miserably cold and this year it's been the worst in many years. We have roughly 300 bucks wrapped up into this system and my experiences have been...when we use it (when I remember to fill up the tank) I definitely see a savings in salt, I can close my v box gate another 1/2"-3/4" or so more than if I wasn't using the liquid with it using less salt obviously. We've seen good results temps. down to around 5F and so-so results with temps. say 5 and under. We treat it with the same liquid we use when we're applying straight liquid, I was told our mixture is something like 70% sodium chloride, 10%calcium chloride, 10%magnesium chloride and lastly 10%potassium chloride, I have no idea,lol but it does work very well. PM me if you want to know our specifics.


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## John_DeereGreen (Jan 2, 2011)

Brian where are you getting your liquid? 

I never got around to building my system this year. I'll work on it over the summer. I want to pretreat with just straight LCC as of right now but it's pretty expensive.


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