[scooterman]

I have a JD 45 gallon sprayer that I use for lawn chemicals. It's winterized under cover right now. Just wondering if anybody has ever used liquid ice-melt through one of these 12v sprayers? We're under a pretty nasty ice condition now and it got me to wondering.

If you have used it, what do you recommend?

 

[PJR832]

I'm not speaking from experience with a 3 point sprayer, but I would say no. Most ice melt products that are not rock salt contain some form of chloride, be it calcium, potassium or magnesium, all of which are quite corrosive.
Maybe someone will chime in with more experience with liquid ice melts that are more safe, like some of the pet friendly ice melts.

 

[RandyM]

You guys got me thinking. Has anyone ever use this product? And if so, what did you think of it?

Bare Ground Mag Plus Liquid Deicer | Non-Toxic, Non-Staining & Pet Safe

 

[scooterman]

You guys got me thinking. Has anyone ever use this product? And if so, what did you think of it?

Bare Ground Mag Plus Liquid Deicer | Non-Toxic, Non-Staining & Pet Safe

I like the look of it. The only concern I have is this line:

"*Virtually non-corrosive for safe use on all surfaces: driveways, walkways, patios, decks and even on your roof."

Virtually? How Virtually

 

[Firewood Bandit]

The orifices in your spray jets are very small. I think you will have serious clogging issues.

 

[Got2]

Highway departments here in WI pre-treat road surfaces with a liquid, thought it was some kind of beet bi-product.

 

[Dan in Ohio]

I try to get all the water out of my pull behind sprayer after use and detach the pump and bring it into the house before winter. My sprayer is getting old and needs to have all hoses replaced soon.

 

[JimR]

Before I'd try it I'd look very closely at the chemicals involved and what the pump is designed for use with. I'm not sure what sort of chemicals those pumps are designed to be used with but it is possible that the chemicals you'd use could eat the seals in them. And then I'd look at the sprayer orifices and figure out if they are properly sized. Otherwise you run the risk of the whole thing plugging up (or dumping to much....). Our local highway dept. uses sprayers to pre-treat but the sprayers are designed for that purpose so I don't know if there is anything special about them.

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

I think the pumps on these sprayers would be fine as long as you thoroughly wash and flush the whole thing out after each use. Which is something you should be doing anyway with anything you run through it. If the liquid has fine particles in it, it might clog the typical spray nozzles up. If that's happening, you can get nozzles better suited for it.

In short, I would say it can be done but for a typical home driveway it is not going to be worth all the effort it requires. If you're talking commercial work, I would get something designed for this so you can just leave it filled and ready to roll reducing the amount of effort for each use.

 

[letmgrow]

Living in northern NY I see a lot of snow removal, plowing etc. There are many plow equipped pick up trucks running around with spreaders on the back to treat driveways and parking lots. I can tell you these things take their toll on the vehicles they are attached to. The spreaders don't last long and the vehicles carrying the spreaders look terrible after just a couple seasons of use.
The same goes for our big town, county and state owned highway equipment. After a couple seasons they are deteriorating at a rapid rate. Even the vehicles we drive daily are subject to rust and corrosion from the chemicals being applied to our highways.
It is my understanding some areas in the mid west use a liquid made from the juice of sugar beets. This is non corrosive and environmentally friendly. Actually the beet juice is much like the "Rim Guard" product which is used in tires for ballast we put into our tractor tires. The problem over here is our growing season isn't compatible with growing sugar beets and the cost of transportation from the mid west to here in large quantities makes the use of beet juice prohibitive. Just loading tires here is expensive. For example I had the tires loaded on my 2012 5065E when I bought it new. 66 gallons per rear tire and with labor the final price was around $650.
From my observations I wouldn't recommend anyone use these ice melt products in a spreader attached to anything you value. At best maybe a hand spreader you can control, clean thoroughly and hang to dry and use the ice melt sparingly and try not to breath the product while you are applying it.
There may be products out there which would be safe to use but not usable in spreaders designed for the spreaders we normally own and use.
Do your homework on this one.
Lynn

 

[letmgrow]

I should probably add to this, I have a 3 pt. hitch cone spreader I use for fertilizer which is as corrosive as or more corrosive than ice melts or salt. I will only use this on my 1987 Ford 2110. When I'm done using the spreader for the day I clean the spreader and the tractor with my pressure washer first with soap then water. In the last four years I have used this spreader it has shown no rust or corrosion. That's only because I take the time to do my maintenance. I have seen these same spreaders just a couple years old rusted badly because someone used them and just unhooked them and walked away. Like most of my implements my spreader is stored inside on a wooden pallet so air can circulate around and under them. I wouldn't use my spreader in the wintertime because I wouldn't be running my pressure washer in the winter and I'd have to park the spreader in my storage barn wet with no heat to dry it. I would pretty much have the same problem with a smaller spreader.

 

[scooterman]

Living in northern NY I see a lot of snow removal, plowing etc. There are many plow equipped pick up trucks running around with spreaders on the back to treat driveways and parking lots. I can tell you these things take their toll on the vehicles they are attached to. The spreaders don't last long and the vehicles carrying the spreaders look terrible after just a couple seasons of use.
The same goes for our big town, county and state owned highway equipment. After a couple seasons they are deteriorating at a rapid rate. Even the vehicles we drive daily are subject to rust and corrosion from the chemicals being applied to our highways.
It is my understanding some areas in the mid west use a liquid made from the juice of sugar beets. This is non corrosive and environmentally friendly. Actually the beet juice is much like the "Rim Guard" product which is used in tires for ballast we put into our tractor tires. The problem over here is our growing season isn't compatible with growing sugar beets and the cost of transportation from the mid west to here in large quantities makes the use of beet juice prohibitive. Just loading tires here is expensive. For example I had the tires loaded on my 2012 5065E when I bought it new. 66 gallons per rear tire and with labor the final price was around $650.
From my observations I wouldn't recommend anyone use these ice melt products in a spreader attached to anything you value. At best maybe a hand spreader you can control, clean thoroughly and hang to dry and use the ice melt sparingly and try not to breath the product while you are applying it.
There may be products out there which would be safe to use but not usable in spreaders designed for the spreaders we normally own and use.
Do your homework on this one.
Lynn

Yeah, I live in Rochester myself which is why I was looking. I had a feeling that I was going to see a lot of this. I can't even stand being out clearing driveways after the plow has come through and salted, I always end up rinsing the tractor down before going back into the garage.


Thanks for the feedback all.

 

[letmgrow]

Yeah, I live in Rochester myself which is why I was looking. I had a feeling that I was going to see a lot of this. I can't even stand being out clearing driveways after the plow has come through and salted, I always end up rinsing the tractor down before going back into the garage.


Thanks for the feedback all.

Please don't take offense to this but I have worked on cars and trucks from Rochester. For sure I wouldn't buy one from there used. They call Syracuse the "Salt City". Rochester is on par with them even though they don't mine salt there.

 

[scooterman]

Please don't take offense to this but I have worked on cars and trucks from Rochester. For sure I wouldn't buy one from there used. They call Syracuse the "Salt City". Rochester is on par with them even though they don't mine salt there.

Since I can remember, I‘ve had two things drilled into me:
1. Be a man
2. Never buy a used car from Upstate NY (or anywhere up north)

Everything else is simply an offshoot of #1 or #2

 

[greenwithenvy]

I would not use my sprayer to apply liquid ice melt.

That stated:
The tank, hoses, fittings, and valves are all plastic / polymer and are likely compatible calcium chloride. Not sure if the pump has similar parts MOC or if any metal is present. The boom and tank support structure are metal. Any unpainted surfaces will quickly oxidize from chloride anion corrosion. The larger molecular weight organic herbicides and pesticides I run through my sprayer have functional groups that are likely to be less compatible with the plastic / polymer. The chemicals are diluted by water and then rinsed out well. I would do the same multiple water rinses with calcium chloride. I would rinse the exterior surfaces with soap and water soon after using. The chloride anion attack is worse at 40 F than it is at 10F. As water eventually evaporates in the spring then you could have calcium chloride precipitation in the lines which could foul your sprayer tips. Triple rinse now or foul later and remove tips for rinsing then.

The inlet to the pump has a course screen. Seems like the calcium chloride is already a liquid and should stay a liquid. Are there instructions to dilute the calcium chloride with more water or is it applied in the concentration supplied?

If you wanted a better answer. Look up the parts list of your sprayer. Find all wetted parts and determine materials of construction. Do a search for material compatibility + calcium chloride + your specific wetted material of construction. You'll get charts which will help you determine the answer.

You may already do the following: Use circulation valve amount open setting in combination with boom valve fully open to adjust pressure to sprayer tips. Lower pressure drop will create larger droplets. Smaller droplets atomize and will cause more metal corrosion.

 

[Red Fox Creations]

Highway departments here in WI pre-treat road surfaces with a liquid, thought it was some kind of beet bi-product.

Northern WI uses a lot of Salt Brine, biproduct of the cheese plants. At one time it was free now it has a market value.. The pre treat and also spray regular salt and salt sand with it. The liquid activates it faster.