OMEOWNERS Putting The Heat On Sidewalks by Joe Althouse (NAPSA)—There are many different brands of ice melters on the market, making confusing and FE "3 sometimes even mis- / 1 of <*>) zi leading claims. How can you tell which products work best? All deicers form a liquid brine which a @ dissolves snow and Joe Althouse 1e on contact. Virtually all of them are made from just five materials— calcium chloride, sodium chloride (rock salt), magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, urea, or blends of these materials. Important performance differences exist between these materials. Calcium chloride pellets work fastest at all temperatures because they give off heat as they melt snow andice. Rock salt, potassium chloride and urea must draw heat from the surroundings, which reduces the effectiveness of these products when temperatures fall into the mid-to-low 20s. Calcium chloride pellets contain nearly twice as much active, icemelting ingredient as magnesium chloride pellets. Magnesium chloride pellets are actually magnesium chloride hexahydrate, which is 50 percent water by weight. Some people think magnesium chloride deicer is effective at the same application rate as calcium chloride; however, in reality, magnesium chloride pellets can only melt about half as much snow and ice as calcium chloride pellets. By checking the ingredients on the package, users can verify that they are getting a deicer material that performsbest. For more information on deicer differences, visit www.peladow.com. Mr. Althouse is a Technical Service Specialist for The Dow Chemical Company.
