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How to Make Brine Solution for Melting Ice
How to Make Brine Solution for Melting Ice. Brine solution is very commonly used as an anti-icing and deicing agent. Pre-wetting the streets with the brine solution prevents the ice from sticking onto the surface. Applying brine solution on the ice breaks the ice into smaller fragments which can be removed off the road easily and quickly. Brine...
Brine solution is very commonly used as an anti-icing and deicing agent. Pre-wetting the streets with the brine solution prevents the ice from sticking onto the surface. Applying brine solution on the ice breaks the ice into smaller fragments which can be removed off the road easily and quickly. Brine solution usually works up to 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit on ice. Enhance the performance of the brine solution by concentrating it and mixing deicing additives to the solution. Making a brine solution to melt ice is a cheap and easy procedure that requires a few household items.
Things You'll Need
Safety gloves (put safety gear on before making the solution)
Safety glasses
Protective boots
Sodium chloride (rock salt)
Bucket
Hot water
Wood stick
Take hot water and rock salt in a ratio of 3-to-1. Hot water increases the solubility of the salt and more salt can be dissolved at quicker rate. High concentration of salt in the brine enables better deicing.
Mix the salt and the water in a bucket and stir the solution with a wood stick to dissolve all the salt in the water. Continually stir the solution. For better action of the brine solution on ice, additives like calcium chloride, urea, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride and calcium magnesium acetate can also be mixed in the solution along with rock salt. Generally most of the deicer products have a fraction of all these deicing agents.
Apply the prepared solution on the concrete for anti-icing. Pre-wet the concrete to prevent ice from bonding to the concrete. For deicing, spread the solution on ice and wait for some time. Ice will slowly break into fragments and dissolve.
Tips & Warnings
Prepare an economical and effective brine solution, mix small amounts of calcium chloride and magnesium chloride along with larger proportions of sodium chloride.
Calcium chloride acts more effectively on ice than rock salt. Rock salt can perform deicing up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit and is less harmful to concrete as other deicing agents. Calcium chloride can deice at temperature zero degrees Fahrenheit because it gives off more heat as it gets dissolved and melts the ice faster.
Put on all safety gear before starting the procedure.
Rock salt and other deicing agents may cause irritation on wet skin and prolonged exposure can cause dermatitis.
