NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The colder it gets, the less effective road salt becomes.
We’ve been telling you about the extreme cold that’ll arrive early next week. With temperatures as cold as they’re going to be, using salt to treat roads and property ahead of time might not be as effective as you think.
Water freezes at 32°, but the colder it gets, the more difficult it is to get salt to work effectively. Salt performance is even worse with temperatures below 25°, and virtually ineffective below 15°.
Low temperatures early next week could actually be in the single digits which could really make salt/brine ineffective.
Additional chemicals would have to be added to the salt that are capable of lowering the freezing point of water more than road salt does.
A study done by Marquette University on road salt showed that pre-wetting the salt, like the Department of Transportation does, can improve salt’s performance at low temperatures.
For personal use, most people could not afford the costs of liquid application systems. They also require a lot of maintenance.
Calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, and potassium chloride are all effective chemicals at lowering the freezing point of water, but are more expensive, therefore they aren’t used as often.
The above mentioned chlorides are capable of keeping roads in good condition even if temperature do drop below that 15° threshold and that’s because they can lower the melting point of water better that sodium chloride (salt) can.
Calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, and potassium chloride are also more environmentally friendly compared to the most commonly used deicer, sodium chloride.
Rock salt, like sodium chloride, aren’t purified and contain contaminants like lead, iron, aluminum, and phosphorous that can end up in our groundwater.
Road salts can be effective in extreme cold if there is direct sunlight shinning on it. At nighttime is when road salts are much less effective in extreme cold.
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