Keeping surfaces clear for winter parking lot and sidewalk maintenance Revision as of 22:09, 24 February 2016 by PLeegar (talk | contribs) (→‎Pre-wetting and Pretreating Salt and Sand)(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Keeping surfaces clear for winter parking lot and sidewalk maintenance

Keep Surfaces Clear=

Winter Maintenance Basics=

• Anti-ice before the storm.
• Remove snow from surfaces as quickly as possible to reduce compaction.
• Plow before applying deicers to avoid dilution of the salt.
• Minimize deicer use during the storm.
• Never plow or blow snow into bodies of water, wetlands, traffic or into streets.
• Minimize back-up maneuvers to reduce chance of accidents.
• Limit use of salt and sand during the storm; use only to reduce bonding.
• Do not use salt to burn off snow.
• Use application rate chart to determine how much salt to use.
• Don’t apply dry salt (sodium chloride) below 15º F pavement temperature. It will not melt fast enough to help.
• Below 15° F, use a wetted salt.
• For extreme cold, skip melting and use sand.
• Clean up spills.
• Accurately record the material used at each site.
• Pay attention to its effectiveness and record observations.
• Use only what is needed based on proper application rates for the conditions.
• Put extra back in salt pile or return extra bags.

Information: Because it uses less materials, mechanical snow and ice removal is the best strategy for protecting the water

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Loading/hauling

• Don’t overfill the truck or spreader: material will spill out as it is driven or pushed. This is a common practice and wastes salt.
• Large snow piles may need to be hauled to another site.
• Schedule this work when the mall or facility is closed to minimize conflicts with vehicles and pedestrians.
• Clean up loading area, sweep extra back into the pile.

Anti-icing

Information: Anti-icing is the most cost-effective and environmentally safe practice in winter maintenance. This is the direction to pursue.

Anti-icing is a proactive approach. It should be first in a series of strategies for each winter storm. Applying a small and strategic amount of liquid on the pavement before a storm will prevent snow and ice from bonding to the pavement. This buys time for the clean-up efforts.

Anti-icing is like frying eggs: grease the pan and the eggs come out easily with no mess to clean up. Like greasing the frying pan, the purpose of anti-icing is to keep snow from sticking to the pavement. Anti-icing provides safer pavement during the event and faster clean up after the event.

Anti-icing requires about ¼ the material and 1/10 the overall cost of deicing. It can increase safety at the lowest cost, and is effective and cost-efficient when correctly used and approached with realistic expectations.

Anti-icing prevents formation of frost. It can be effective for up to several days depending on the weather conditions.

Information: Anti-icing is quick. It is possible to treat a parking lot in a matter of minutes. It is an excellent strategy for saving time. Charging by the hour is not a desired practice when changing to anti-icing.

Get started in anti-icing

The basic equipment needed includes: pavement temperature sensor, storage tank, spray truck system, transfer pump, hoses, and fittings.

What to do

• Calibrate.
• Use application rates suggested in the Rate section of this manual.
• Apply with stream nozzles to maintain dry areas between sprayed areas to reduce slipperiness. Stream nozzles work the best for anti-icing.
• If using fan nozzles apply extra light. This makes a dry surface wet and users will have less friction until it dries.
• Try anti-icing in a low traffic area to build confidence about its properties.
• Read some of anti-icing guidelines in the reference section of this manual.

Test the application rates and spray pattern to become confident in preventing the bonding of ice without creating a slimy or slippery situation.

Tip: Stream nozzles prevent slippery conditions better than fan spray.

Tip: Too little CaCl₂ or MgCl₂ is safer than too much.

What not to do

• Do not re-apply if there is still residue. It can remain many days after application.
• Do not apply CaCl₂ or MgCl₂ to a warm surface (above 35º F pavement temperature). It can become “greasy” as it pulls moisture to the pavement. These liquids do not always become greasy, but there is a higher potential in warmer temperatures and higher humidity.
• Do not over apply CaCl₂ or MgCl₂.
• Do not apply liquids before a rain storm. They will wash away.

Anti-icing Tips

• Liquids are more efficient than solids and may be applied days in advance of an event.
• It is better to use less than more. Over-application can cause slippery conditions because it makes a dry surface wet.
• Anti-icing is often effective for heavy frosts.
• Liquids are dispersed by the traffic. Spray the traffic lanes and the liquid will migrate with the tires to the parking areas.
• Some users advise against spraying the service road in front of buildings and instead spray traffic lanes and back service roads to allow the traffic to spread the liquids near the building where foot traffic is higher. This can reduce tracking into the building and over-application in a high-traffic area.
• For service roads on hills, some users recommend applying to only the top half of the hill, relying on traffic to carry it down the hill, to avoid a slippery situation at the bottom of the hill.
• Anti-ice when weather forecasts indicate a need. Do not anti-ice on a regular schedule, e.g., every Friday.
• Early application is particularly important for frost or light freezing drizzle.
• Pretreated or pre-wet materials are not as efficient as liquids for anti-icing. These require more material overall than with liquids. The pre-wet granular materials don’t stay in place as well as the liquids. Pre-wet granular solids can work if applied at very low application rates immediately before the snow event.

Information: Anti-icing requires less material, and less material means less water pollution.

Information: Using less salt doesn’t have to reduce safety, but it does protect the lakes, streams and groundwater.

Equipment=

• Anti-icing unit, e.g., transport vehicle with tank.
• For larger trucks: Stream nozzles (minimum eight holes), 8-inch spacing, bar height 12 to 14 inches from surface, 30 to 35 psi at the bar. These can be purchased or constructed.
• Solid stream – fan spray is more apt to make slippery conditions.
• A hand held pump sprayer or backpack sprayer can be used for sidewalks. Remember to leave a pattern of wet and dry to reduce the chance of creating slippery conditions.
• There are many ways to retrofit a pick-up truck or ATV with a tank and one of the following boom, spray bar, or hose reel with sprayer.
• A shutoff switch in the cab is recommended.

Deicing

Deicing is a reactive operation where a deicer is applied to the top of an accumulation of snow, ice, or frost that has already bonded to the pavement surface and can no longer be physically removed. Deicing costs more than anti-icing in materials, time, equipment, and environmental damage. Deicing is the “traditional” approach to winter maintenance.

Removing ice that has already bonded to the pavement is difficult. Removing it mechanically can damage equipment and surfaces. Generally, enough ice must be melted chemically to break the bond between the ice and the pavement. This requires larger amounts of chemical, making deicing much less efficient than anti-icing.

Use the application rate table (Figure 24) to help with deicing. Using recommended rates will help with these common problems:

• Over-salting. Most over-salting can be prevented by using calibrated spreaders and good judgment in selecting application rates based on pavement temperatures.
• Trying to melt everything. Don’t try to melt all the snow on the surface with salt. This is an overuse of materials. Apply just enough to loosen the bond between the pavement surface and the snowpack so it can be plowed off.

Tip: The goal is not to melt everything. The goal is to penetrate through the ice and snow and break the bond so the pavement can be plowed.

Pre-wetting and Pretreating Salt and Sand

Pre-wetting and pretreating both mean getting dry material wet. Salt only melts snow and ice when it is in solution (dissolved). Dry salt does nothing until it is dissolved. Liquids applied to dry salt jump-start the melting process and penetrate ice and snow pack faster. Wet materials stick to the pavement and are less likely to end up in the nearby vegetation.

When integrating the liquids, decrease the application rate of the granular product. This is a common mistake made by new users of liquids.

Using wet salt vs dry salt for melting ice

• There are many types of liquid deicers.
• Salt brine is a common liquid deicer made from water and rock salt (NaCl).
• Brines can contain other ingredients besides water and rock salt.
• Pre-wetting (truck treatment) is the process of adding liquid to solids as they are applied to the pavement.
• Pretreating is the process of adding liquid to solids in the stockpile.
• Adding brine to dry salt, the combination will work faster than dry salt.
• Use magnesium chloride (MgCl2) or calcium chloride (CaCl2) liquid with dry salt, it will work faster and at lower temperatures.
• Wet material bounces less.

Information: Generally it is possible to use 1/3 less material when using a pre-wet or pretreat, and it works faster than dry salt!

Guidelines for Pretreating Stockpiles

Pretreating is mixing a liquid deicer into the stockpile of salt or sand. It can be purchased as a product already mixed and ready to use or can be created. To create a pre-treated stockpile, add liquids conservatively. The dry material can only hold so much liquid before leaching occurs. Watch the storage area to make sure it can contain the wet salt pile. Test mixing skills and observe the amount of leaching on a small stockpile before doing this on a large scale.

Treating the salt stockpile:=

• Spray and mix the salt stockpile with a liquid deicing chemical (not brine).
• When treating the stockpile, apply at 6 to 8 gallons/ton, less is better.
• Because leach risk at a stockpile is increased, proper storage is critical.
• To minimize problems, mix up pre-wet materials per storm event not per season.

Treated Stockpile Application:

• Pretreated salt can be applied with a pickup truck, a dump truck, a drop, or rotary spreader or almost any type of equipment used for dry salt.
• No equipment changes are required.
• Remember to turn down the application rate; it requires 1/3 less material than dry salt.

Information: Cover salt and salt/sand piles and place on an impervious pad to limit runoff and infiltration of chlorides.

Information: Covering the stockpile protects the salt from wind, rain and snow and reduces waste.